Code Lyoko: Desires
by Master-Aricitic
Summary: Don't let the title fool you, I just used it to not elude to the plot to much. This story may, and probably will, contain many genre. Enjoy. Oh, and had to be changed to PG-13.
1. Signs of Desire

Uh, yeah, a little bit of an error here and there, sorry about that. The normal blurb will not be shown, having been deleated with the original form of this chapter. This is being placed here as a filler for when I replace this version of the story with the Revised version.  
Thank you and have a nice day.

Signs of Desire

It wasn't long after Jeremie had managed to materialize Aelita. The children were still getting use to the idea that Aelita could visit their world, every so often. And of course Jeremie was hard at work trying to find the anti virus. X.A.N.A. had done a great job with the virus; it baffled Jeremie to no end.

The virus was created to keep Aelita linked to X.A.N.A. even when in the 'real' world. If they were to turn X.A.N.A. off then Aelita would enter a coma. Because of this they had to keep X.A.N.A. on until Jeremie was able to find a way to combat the virus, thusly freeing Aelita from X.A.N.A.

Aelita was sad that she could not enjoy the 'life' she had once known, even if it was for a short time. She missed even the little things, the smells, the sounds; the warmth. Se even missed having a heartbeat. But what she missed most, though she wouldn't admit it, was being able to see Jeremie, to actually touch him and be with him. She didn't want to have to see him from afar any more. Aelita desired, beyond anything else, to be with Jeremie.

Jeremie felt the same way, but he also felt like a failure. He felt that he was not good enough because he couldn't fix something as simple as a virus. He also missed being around Aelita, he had the pictures that they had taken, but it wasn't enough. Jeremie desired, beyond anything else, to be with Aelita.

Ulrich and Yumi had a different problem. Even though they were with each other, they still were not 'with' one another. They both loved the other, they both strongly believed that the other loved them, yet neither of them could find the courage to come out and say it. They both wanted to, yet for some reason they just were unable to. It was because of their shyness that they were unable to confess their love and become a real couple. Both Yumi and Ulrich desired beyond anything else, that they were able to confess their love, and even kiss once.

Odd on the other hand had a situation that was not that different than the others. He loved a girl in another school, and she was always getting in trouble. Her family was not very wealthy, and what she needed she had come to take. This got her in trouble a lot, and her family had moved away to a different city. Odd missed her, and whished that she would return. He desired, beyond anything else, that she would be able to return so that he could be with her again.

The desires were obvious, but there seemed no way for any one to be granted, at least no easy way. It seemed that they would have to either solve their own problems the hard or nearly impossible way, or give up. None of them would give up, they weren't the type of people to give up.

Yet Yumi had another problem. She didn't show it very often, and the last time she had was when Odd first arrived to the school, but she had psychic abilities. She did not have very good control of her abilities, nor did she really know how to use them. This made it somewhat difficult around other people. She would sometimes pick up on their thoughts without intending to, and sometimes she even levitated things without knowing it.


	2. Signs of Desire Continued: Yumi

As I had said previously I do not own the Code Lyoko Copyright. I whish I did, I would get the second season and move over to America faster... Anyway, enjoy.  
Just a note: Any likeness to any real fictional charictors is purly coincidental.

* * *

Signs of Desire Continued…  
Yumi:

It was the Saturday after we had materialized Aelita. We did not have school today and because X.A.N.A. wasn't attacking we didn't have much to do. Thankfully our teachers had decided to be nice to us, and hadn't given us any homework this weekend. We were free to do what ever we wanted to do.

I knew that Jeremie would probably spend the entire day trying to work out the virus problem. I didn't know what Odd was planning on doing, but, knowing Odd, it would probably have something to do with video games. I also didn't know what Ulrich would be doing, but I knew what I wanted to do.

We had just finished eating and were sitting at the bench in the courtyard where we usually met. Jeremie was leaning against the end of the bench, Ulrich and I were sitting on the bench and Odd was standing behind us. We were hanging out for a little bit until Jeremie decided to go back to his room, or until someone made a suggestion of what to do.

"Uh, oh, here comes Sissi," Odd said giving the alert.

He was right; Sissi was coming our way walking with the swagger she usually used. She was looking directly at Ulrich, as she usually did. For some reason she had a major crush on Ulrich, and even though on numerous times he has told her to leave him alone she still persists.

"Ulrich, dear, can I speak with you for a moment, alone?" Sissi asked.

"I'm sure that what ever it is that you have to say, can be said in front of my friends." Ulrich told her.

Sissi stepped back at Ulrich's coldness. She looked almost hurt, even though Ulrich treated her like this every time she talked to him. She should have been use to it by now.

"No, I really can't say it here." Sissi insisted.

"What could you have to say to me that you can't say in front of my friends?" Ulrich asked coolly.

Sissi sighed, something I hadn't seen her do often. "Well, I'll just say that I am sorry for taking advantage of you that time when you lost your memory."

At this we all jumped. That had been a X.A.N.A. attack, and when we had gone back into time she should have forgotten about it. If she remembered that then what else might she have remembered?

"Ok, Sissi, I'll talk with you." Ulrich said with a quiver in his voice.

They walked out of earshot for to talk. I began to burn with rage at this. Even if Sissi had managed to remember something that she shouldn't be able to if she somehow managed to take Ulrich away from me I didn't know what I would do to her. I couldn't stand the thought of her somehow forcing Ulrich to join her friends by blackmailing him, like she had once before.

Ulrich came back. He looked a little shaken, and was slightly paled. I hoped that he wouldn't say what I thought he might, I hoped that Sissi hadn't remembered the factory and our secrete. I really hoped that she hadn't just blackmailed Ulrich, because if she had she would have to deal with me.

"So what did she say?" Odd asked.

"She told me that she had been having these dreams. She didn't know what they meant, but when she told me about them I suddenly realized that she was describing what happened to her during all of the X.A.N.A. attacks. They were just fragments, but still. She remembers every time she almost died."

We all stared at him with out mouths open. What could make a person remember what didn't happen to them? And remembering near death experiences; that would be hard. Each of us had memories of all the times which we had nearly died, but we understood why.

"I don't know what to do." Ulrich told us. "It's not like I can simply tell her about Lyoko, but she knows that the dreams are somehow connected to me."

This was a problem. If Sissi now began searching too deeply she might remember everything. And what if other people began to remember as well? If every one remembered all the times that we had gone back in time erasing everything… No it was too horrifying to think about.

"Let's just leave it for now." I said my head swimming.

"Yeah, Yumi has a good point. Just don't say anything for now. We will deal with it when the time comes." Jeremie agreed. "I'm going to go and talk to Aelita about it, see if she knows anything about it."

Jeremie got up and began walking to his dorm room. Then Odd got up and began sneaking after him saying something about video games. That just left Ulrich and me. I began to get nervous. I knew that Ulrich needed me; the shock from what Sissi had said was really getting to him. I didn't know why but he must have done some thing, or things, that he didn't want her to remember.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, my heart beginning to pound. I knew that I needed to comfort him, but how? We could do something to take his mind off of it. We could go out for ice cream.

"Ulrich," I said my heart racing. "Would you like to go out for ice cream with me?"

"I would love to Yumi." He said his voice nearly cracking.

We got up ready to leave the school grounds, as we got up we suddenly noticed something on the ground. It appeared to be a ring of some sort. It was about a food from side to side, and it was growing. Suddenly an 'S' appeared in the center, then directly after an 'N' appeared through the center line of the center of the 'S', finally a 'T' shape appeared on the bottom curve of the 'S'.

"What the heck is that?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know…" I said confused myself.

Suddenly a black shadow rose above the symbol. At first I thought it was X.A.N.A. but then I remembered that it was coming from a different symbol. The black shadow rose to about our height and expanded to the edges of the ring. Suddenly the shadow disappeared and the space where it had been began to look twisted, almost bent. Then I suddenly saw a field on the other side. There was a person in the field looking at me, but just as I was about to see enough of the person the thing disappeared.

"Again, what was that?" Ulrich asked.

"I still don't know, but did you see that person?" I asked.

"Yeah… But I can't remember what it looked like." He told me.

"Well, it's gone now; let's just walk away… if it is X.A.N.A. Jeremie will tell us."

I could see that Ulrich was feeling better now, and I was grateful for that. But the thing that we had just seen was still bugging me. If it wasn't X.A.N.A. than what was it? Who or what had the ability to do something like that, or had it just been in our imaginations?

* * *

I'll make this short, the symbol is mine... Thank you. Any other things that are mine I will let you know.  
As always, thank you for reading my stories.


	3. Signs of Desire Continued: Aelita

Wow, I can't believe that people are already enjoying my story... I find that amazing, this is my second submitted story, ever... Anyway, I love the reviews. Please keep them coming, and if you wish, submit ideas. I can't guaranty they will make it into my story, because I actually have a set direction with which this is headed, but I will most certainly consider them.

* * *

Aelita:

I was lying in a tower thinking to myself about how wonderful the 'real' world was. I really did miss the things that I could only experience in the 'real' world. Here in Lyoko I couldn't breath, and the knowledge of breathing almost made me feel as though I were suffocating. I also missed the feelings: warmth, touch, the wind blowing against me, and so many others. Suddenly I remembered kissing Jeremie, the feeling of my lips against his cheek. I knew that if I were in the real world I would be feeling a flood of emotion right now, but I did know that I was blushing…

Suddenly a 'window', or rather a translucent screen, appeared in front of me. I saw Jeremie appear on the screen. I remembered that I was blushing and I could almost feel it growing across my face. My 'virtual' heart began to race, as did my mind. I knew that Jeremie would ask me why I was blushing.

"Aelita, have you ever known-" he started, but then seeing the redness on my face he stopped and asked. "Are you alright, your face is red."

"Oh, I'm, ah, fine." I lied. "What is it that you were asking?"

"Well, if you are ok…" he said worried. "Have you ever known someone to start remembering what has happened to them before Lyoko takes us back in time?"

"No, never." I told him. "All of their memories are erased and it is if nothing ever happened. You know that."

He paused for a moment thinking. I watched him, thinking how wonderful it would be to be there with him, and how much I wanted to hold his hand. To just be able to touch him, to be able to feel his skin against my hand, I would walk to the ends of Lyoko and back. I began blushing again; I could nearly feel my cheeks turning red.

"Are you sure you are ok? Your cheeks are turning red again." Jeremie asked.

"No, I'm fine…" I said lying again; I didn't know why I felt the need to lie to him. I _had_ openly kissed him when I was on earth with him… "Anyway, why do you ask?"

"Because someone has begun remembering what happened to them." He told me. "They are remembering fragments of all the times that Lyoko took us back in time. The others and I are worried, and we are wondering what might be causing this."

I paused to think for a moment, it wasn't likely that they would just suddenly remember something that hadn't actually happened to them. But there was a possibility, it wasn't likely, but it was still there.

"Jeremie, do you remember when X.A.N.A. created those nanobots and began destroying people's memories?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, Sissi took advantage of his memory loss and… Wait a minute; she had apologized for doing that. I wonder if it's connected. Anyway, what do you think it means?"

"Ulrich began remembering things, right? What if, because his mind was able to get past the damage that X.A.N.A. had done; what if the person you are talking about has as well? It is X.A.N.A. initially who is erasing everyone's memories."

"Well, that is a possibility… She had said it was like a dream when she remembered things…" He told me. "Wait a minute, what the heck is this?"

As he said that another window popped up. Inside the window appeared a symbol. First a circle appeared; then inside the circle an 'S' was drawn. As the 'S' was being drawn an 'N' began to draw itself on the center line of the 'S'. Finally just as I was beginning to think that it was done a 'T' like symbol appeared on the right curve of the 'S'. I was wondering what it meant, it appeared to be making up letters, the 'S' and the 'N' of course, but the way the 'T' was placed it made the top curve look almost as if it were a 'G'.

I didn't have long to wonder what it meant because text suddenly began to appear under it, 'GASAN'. As soon as that appeared hundreds of other windows appeared with computer code in them. It appeared that someone was hacking into Lyoko…

"Jeremie, we have a problem." I said, but he didn't respond. "Jeremie?"

I looked back to the window that he had been in. It was gone, Jeremie was gone. I opened a window of my own to see what was happening, but the window that I opened wouldn't respond. I was locked out of the Lyoko system. It was impossible but I was locked out.

Suddenly in front of me the graphics of Lyoko began to tear. What looked like a black hole appeared, except it was not a sphere, it was a cylinder. It was about my height and approximately three feet from end to end. As I watched wondering what the thing was it suddenly changed and I saw the school on earth appear in it. I was mystified, this surely wasn't the work of X.A.N.A. but if not him, then who?

Suddenly, just as all the things had appeared, they disappeared and the window that Jeremie was in reappeared. I walked back to the window and sat down. I was confused, but perhaps Jeremie might be able to explain what had just happened; I certainly knew that I couldn't.

"Aelita, did something just happen in Lyoko?" Jeremie asked. "I just got this really strange message on my computer, first this symbol comes up, and then I get an error message saying that I can't connect to Lyoko."

"I think someone just hacked into Lyoko." I told him. "But I don't know who or what, I can only hope that what ever it was doesn't work with X.A.N.A. or doesn't become worse than him."

"I agree with that, one X.A.N.A. is bad enough." He said. "Anyway, what do you say we start working on an antivirus?"

"Sure, I would love to." I said.

I opened a window and we got to work on the antivirus. I was glad to do something normal after what had just happened. I was also glad to work with Jeremie. There wasn't anything I wanted more in the world then to be with Jeremie. Even if I were stuck in Lyoko, as long as I could see Jeremie I would be happy.

* * *

I wonder if I am being too bold... Nah... I'll keep it the way it is, and I'll keep it coming. more to come today. It's not like I have anything better to do... and that really isn't a joke, I like writeing and left all my games esleware anyway...


	4. Signs of Desire Continued: Odd

Is it just me or are my chapters getting shorter? Oh, well, I guess that doesn't matter, 912 words is still a good amount. I'll get outa your hair and just let you read now...

* * *

Signs of Desire Continued 

Odd:

After Jeremie had decided to leave, I had realized that Ulrich and Yumi needed to be alone. I decided that for now it would probably be best if I just left them alone and go do my own thing. I made sure to mutter something about video games, so they wouldn't think that I was simply doing this for them. It wasn't like me, and I didn't want them to know about it…

I did not go to my room, they might decide to do so, and as I had just said I wanted to stay out of their way. Instead I went into town; I hadn't had time to simply look around for a while, mostly because of X.A.N.A. so I wanted to have a look around. Besides I had finally managed to get the wheels for my skate board, and I needed to pick them up.

I walked around town for a while, not heading to any place in particular. I looked at some new stores that had opened, and when I found a new game store I quickly entered it. I looked around seeing what games they had, I found a few that I wanted and remembered them for when I had money. I continued to look around when I suddenly saw someone who I didn't believe could possibly be there.

"Sam," I said to myself, but I knew that it was impossible. She had moved a long time ago. I knew that she couldn't be here.

As I watched I saw her turn around and I saw her face. It was her; it was Sam, the girl of _my_ dreams. I tried to call out to her but I suddenly couldn't find my voice. I kept trying but I simply couldn't get my voice to work. Suddenly she looked at me, but instead of seeing me it was as if she saw right through me, almost as if I weren't even there. Then she heard someone calling for her and turned away running to who ever it was.

I felt a lump growing in my throat. I couldn't believe it, she had ignored me. I had thought that we had liked each other but when she had looked at me she had ignored me. I felt the misery flood through me, and was about to begin crying when suddenly I bumped into something. I was shocked because I had thought that I wasn't even moving yet somehow I had ran smack into something as solid as stone.

Suddenly I found myself being snapped back to reality. I looked around and found myself on the sidewalk. I hadn't even entered the store yet, in fact I was a block away from it. This was very strange, I must have daydreamed all of what I had just seen. I was about to begin walking to the store again when I suddenly saw Sam walking out of it with her parents. I was shocked, again.

This time I had to get to her. I had to talk with her, ask her what she was doing here, and how long she would be in town. I again tried to call out to her but she didn't hear me over the sound of the street. I began running but saw that she was getting into a cab. I ran as fast as I could, narrowly missing many people, but in the end it was to late, and she was gone again.

I walked to the nearest bench and sat down. I could feel water coming to my eyes and I knew that I was about to cry once again. I rested my head in my hands and just let myself go. I missed Sam and I really wanted to see her again. Many times since she had left she had been and still was the only thing that I could think of. I remembered the times when we had kissed, and wondered if we were really the only ones in the group that had kissed. I really wanted to see her; I missed her so badly that if I only knew where she was I would _walk_ to be able to see her again.

_Is it the thing you desire most? The one thing that you desire above everything else?_

"What?" I asked aloud, looking for who ever had spoken.

When I opened my eyes I was shocked. No one was moving; everything was frozen. It was if time had stopped, like just before Lyoko reversed time. But this wasn't Lyoko's doing, I knew that. Not even X.A.N.A. could pause time like this.

_Do you wish to see Sam above everything else? Is that your greatest desire?_

"What do you mean, and who are you?" I asked looking around.

Suddenly a shadow appeared in front of me. It looked like the shadow of a tall man wearing a cloak, except it was standing rather than lying on the ground. It looked almost like the smoke that X.A.N.A. used to possess things. But I knew that this wasn't X.A.N.A. it didn't look like him, and it didn't act like him.

"Hey, who are you?" I asked. "And what do you mean, 'my greatest desire'?"

Suddenly the figure disappeared and time went back to normal. The people didn't even appear to notice anything at all. It was if nothing had even happened. Almost, I would even say, as if I had imagined it again.

* * *

Is it just me or is it getting creepy in here? Well, what ever happens lets just hope that everything turns out all right. and just to let you know there are supposed to be two 'less than' and 'greater than' signs around the itialicised sentences, but for some reason this won't accept them...


	5. Signs of Desire Continued: Sissi

Now this is a long chapter, but you needed to know it... A Sissi chapter, not sissy, but you get the idea. It contains her point of view of some episodes, but they are short... Enjoy.  
Note: There is a correction: I had it where Yumi had said something, when Ulrich had actually said it, how ironic that the very show was on just an hour later than I wrote this...

* * *

Signs of Desire Continued

Sissi:

(Earlier that mourning)

I was at the dance, in a really nice outfit, and I was about to be named queen again. Suddenly Yumi and Ulrich come rushing in Yumi takes control of a microphone. Then Ulrich says something into the microphone and everyone starts laughing. I get really mad and start telling at everyone. Then suddenly the wall behind me explodes and as I turn around I see a giant teddy bear looking down at me.

Suddenly I am in a closet with Jim. We are both panicking because of a cloud of poisonous gas. I am really frightened and I begin to think of Ulrich. Suddenly I tell Jim about my feelings for Ulrich and how I simply want to be part of their group but they won't let me…

Then I am waiting outside of Ulrich's dorm door, I am waiting for him to leave his room. He walks out and I ask for a moment with him. He refuses and I tell him that I have his diary and I know his secrete. I use his diary and secrete to black mail him into going out with me.

Suddenly I am standing in the cafeteria behind Yumi and am talking to Ulrich. He gets mad at me, but Yumi sticks up for me. I can tell that something isn't quite right with Yumi, but I take the offer anyway and thank her.

Now I am with Ulrich and we are being chased by a robotic alien. We are in an abandoned factory, and some producer is making a movie. We run and hide in an elevator, and suddenly I tell Ulrich the truth, or part of the truth… suddenly someone rescues us and I see that it is Yumi.

Suddenly I am in the elevator again but I am out cold. I wake up to find Yumi leaving and Ulrich badly hurt. I help him with his arm, and he tells me that if we ever get out of this alive he would be nicer to me. Suddenly we are floating in water up to our heads…

Suddenly I am in the infirmary; I am looking at Ulrich who is lying on a bed. He wakes up, but something is wrong, he seems to have lost his memory. I take advantage of this and tell him some lies so that he will be with me. Suddenly he says something and I feel shocked and saddened, but he then looks at me and we leave. Then I tell him that his friends, the group that I had wanted to join, were his enemies. Suddenly we are sitting in the park and we hear Odd behind us, Ulrich jumps up and chases him off.

Suddenly Ulrich is not with Yumi but instead with another girl named Emily. I get mad at this and say that I will get him back, but when I try he brushes me off and runs away somewhere.

Now I am in school and there is a new girl. She looks scared, but I say that girls use that to be around boys. The teacher has her introduce herself, but she is too frightened to do so; Odd does it instead, saying that her name is Aelita and that she is his cousin. I can tell that he is lying, but I don't say anything.

Suddenly I woke up. I was sweating from the nightmare that I had just had. The thing was that it didn't seem like a dream. It seemed more like a memory, something that I had forgotten for some reason. I got out of my bed and changed into my normal cloths. It was a Saturday so we didn't have classes.

I went to the cafeteria to get breakfast. As I brought my tray to my table I suddenly saw Ulrich and I remembered the dream. I decided that I should tell him about it, and would do so alone after breakfast. Once I told him about it I would see his reaction, and if I was right and it wasn't just a dream… well I would have to decide how to use the information after that.

Once I was done I saw that Ulrich and his gang were gone. I knew where they usually sat so I left the cafeteria and found them sitting on the bench which they usually sat. I didn't know how to do this. I wanted to talk to Ulrich seriously, but I knew that he wouldn't listen to me, especially not if it were alone. I decided to go through with it anyway and walked up to him.

"Ulrich dear, can I speak with you for a moment," I said looking at him then at his friends. "Alone?"

"I'm sure that what ever it is that you have to say," he said and paused looking at his friends. "Can be said in front of my friends."

I was hurt, I knew that he was going to say that, but I really needed to tell him about the dream. I couldn't just let it go, it was nagging at me too much. I needed to tell him, I simply had to. But I didn't want his friends to hear about it, not if it really was just a dream…

"No," I said, "I really can't say it here."

"What could you have to say to me that you can't say in front of my friends?" he asked me coldly.

I sighed; I knew that this would be hard. There was one thing that I could say in front of his friends though, and if it hit home then I was right. If it didn't I wouldn't have to pay for it at all. "Well, I'll just say that I am sorry for taking advantage of you that time when you lost your memory."

They all jumped. What I had just said apparently meant something to them. Perhaps that really was a memory, and one that I wasn't supposed to have. In any case it appeared that I now had his attention.

"Ok, Sissi, I'll talk with you." He said in a frightened voice.

We walked out of earshot of the others. I made sure that no one else was around to hear what I was about to say. I didn't want a rumor about me to start around the school. I just wouldn't be able to stand that.

"Ulrich, I have been having these dreams, but I don't know if they really are dreams. I keep seeing myself doing things that I don't remember. I have seen myself being attacked by an alien with you when some producer was making a movie. I remember being stuck in an elevator in that abandoned factory with you, and your arm was broken. You had said then that if we ever made it out of there alive you would be nicer to me. But what is the most horrifying thing, is that I remember almost dying many times, and each time a bright white light comes around me and I find myself back in real life."

He was shocked; so shocked that he didn't even say anything. He just stared at me with his mouth open. This was apparently something that I really wasn't supposed to know. But for some reason he did; I didn't know why he did but I intended to find out.

"Sissi, how long have you been having these dreams?" Ulrich asked me.

"Almost since the beginning of the year. They weren't very clear then, but they have been getting clearer ever since."

"Uh, I ah, um…" he stuttered.

"You can go back to your friends now, Ulrich dear." I told him.

He began walking back stiffly. He really was shocked. I hadn't realized just how much this would affect him. I hoped that I hadn't hurt him by telling him this. Really, even though I was always annoying them I really just wanted to be part of their group. That was all I really wanted, to be with Ulrich. If I could simply be with him I wouldn't mind if Yumi had him. I did almost feel for someone else, but because of how I have been acting up until now I could never admit it…

* * *

Well, that was the last Sign of Desire... Now we will see how they deal with is. I just can't believe that i have finished five chapters already.  
Note: If you find any more errors please tell me. Thank you mornstar.


	6. Mysterious Signs

I know that I am very strange. Here is a new 'Chapter'. I just hope that I can come to produce what you all believe to be a great story. Then afterward become what you all believe to be a great author. Thank you for your feed back.

* * *

Mysterious Signs 

Yumi and Ulrich were at a café enjoying each other's company. Odd had gotten himself lost. Jeremie and Aelita were working on the virus which had infected Aelita. Currently something strange had happened to all of them, Lyoko was hacked, Yumi and Ulrich had seen something, they didn't know what, and Odd had not only seen Sam his girlfriend but he had also seen something else, some sort of creature. None of them, except Jeremie and Aelita knew for sure that what they had seen had actually happened.

When Odd had first seen Sam he had not been able to say anything to her, and she had seen right through him. This was because he was not really there; he had been having a premonition. His powers in Lyoko were reaching out into the 'real' world. The second time that he had seen her, when he had actually been there, she had not heard him. And before he knew it she was leaving again in a cab.

When Lyoko had been hacked Aelita noticed that a few programs suddenly started running. What she had not noticed was that they were not programs originally programmed into Lyoko. Then before her very eyes a space-time rift opened from within the tower to the courtyard outside the school. Aelita didn't know it but the rift was shown to two of her friends as well. Ulrich and Yumi had seen a similar rift, but that rift led somewhere else.

None of the children knew what was happening, nor were they meant to. The mystery was not one that they _could_ solve, not alone at least. But there was no one that they could go to. No one else knew their secret, and no one else could. The children did not know if they could trust anyone else with the secret, and they were not willing to risk loosing Lyoko and Aelita to anyone.

The children chose to ignore it for now, besides they had more important issues. Sissi seemed to be remembering what had happened to her during the times before Lyoko reset time. This could be a problem because if she remembered too much she might blackmail them into doing something. This could be dangerous because it might make them loose Lyoko and Aelita forever. They would have to do something about this, and soon.

Mean while Sissi was confronting her dream, she was going to the factory to see if the places that she remembered were actually there. She did not know what she would find but she knew that she had to settle the issue about her dreams, and soon. If the places that she remembered were there she would confront Ulrich's gang again, this time as a whole. If they were not there, she would drop it and pretend it never happened.

Sissi's gang on the other hand, consisting of Nicolas Herb and of course Sissi, were wondering where she was. She had not told either one of them where she would be going because she wanted to go alone. Sissi was beginning to realize why Ulrich's gang was so mean to her all the time. Because of the dream she had had to reflect on how she treated them and acted normally. She was beginning to understand why she only had two friends and why the other children didn't seem to like her. She now sought to correct this.

Sissi truly desired to become part of Ulrich's group. She also wanted the other students to like her; she just hadn't known how to do so. Because of her personality she was very verbose, and she usually brought it to an annoying level. She also happened to be a little dimwitted at times, and now that she knew what to fix, she would be able to.

* * *

Here is some irony. _I_ am confused... How often do you get an author who is confused by their own work? Anyway, I'm sure I can work out the confusion in the end... 


	7. Mysterious Signs Continued: Ulrich

The last chapter was to show what has happened and brief you on what is yet to come. It was just like the first chapter, and will most likely be used again. I like to change chapters when changing people. Just wanted to let you know...

* * *

Mysterious Signs

Ulrich:

Yumi and I were still at the café. We had been here for a little over an hour already. Yumi had done her best to cheer me up, and for the most part she had succeeded. It still bothered me though, Sissi telling me about her dreams, and the fact that she remembered nearly dying. That has to freak someone out. If that was the case then I could understand why she always seemed grumpy. And I just couldn't get my mind off of the possibility that many of those times that she wanted to talk to me might have been because she wanted to tell me about the dreams…

"Ulrich, are you ok?" Yumi asked concerned. "You look pale."

Yumi's pleasant voice snapped me back to reality. I looked up from the plate that was in front of me. She was looking at me with a concerned expression on her face. Our eyes met and we both began to blush slightly. Every time I looked at Yumi my heart began to race. It was such a wonderful pleasant feeling; I knew that it was love.

"Yumi, what should I do?" I asked her. "Sissi is going to want to know what is going on, and if she figures it out herself we will be in for more trouble than it's worth."

She smiled and nodded. She understood what I meant, we couldn't allow anyone else to find out about Lyoko, at least not until we were sure they could keep the secret. I couldn't imagine what an adult would do if they found Lyoko. I didn't want to imagine what the police would do, or the military for that matter. I did know one thing though, if an adult found out about Lyoko they would take it away from us. If that happened we would loose Aelita, and I knew how Jeremie felt about that.

"Perhaps we should tell her." Yumi suggested. "Tell her at least enough for her to know what is going on. We could even lie about it."

"Are you saying that we should tell Sissi about Lyoko? Bring her into the gang? Yumi, that isn't like you."

"I know, I wasn't suggesting that much." She told me. "Just to tell her what she has a right to know."

"But that's just it; I don't know what she has the right to know…" I said feeling down again.

"Ulrich, I trust in you. I believe in you." Yumi said. "I know that when it comes to it you will be able to make the right decision."

I began to feel warm inside. I could feel my love for her springing up, mixed with pride that she believed in me. I felt the emotions swell up all the way to my face before I realized that they would make me blush. Suddenly I felt my cheeks become warm and I knew that I was blushing. I looked off to my side trying to hide the fact that I was blushing.

"Thank you Yumi, you know that means a lot to me." I said.

"Hey, Ulrich, remember that time on Lyoko? A few months ago, when the X.A.N.A. attack was aimed at the scanners and if we died we died for ever." Yumi asked. "Do you remember just before Aelita deactivated the tower?"

Now I knew that I was really blushing. I most certainly remembered. We had almost kissed then. It was one of, if not my most, precious memory.

"Yes, I remember, when we almost…" I trailed off.

"… Kissed?" Yumi finished blushing as much as I was.

We looked at each other, and our eyes met. Slowly Yumi and I began leaning forward towards each other our eyes closing and lips extending. This was it, we were finally about to kiss. Nothing could ruin the moment…

"Ah, ow, no, my head!" Yumi streaked in pain.

I opened my eyes and saw Yumi holding her head in pain. She looked as though she had a massive headache, or a migraine. I suddenly didn't know what to do; it was not as if I could magically stop the migraine. I looked around to see if I could get help but for some reason all of the people were frozen.

Now I began to panic, I didn't know what to do. There wasn't anyone moving except us. And since there was nothing that I could do and Yumi was the one in pain we were in trouble. All I could really do was pray that she would begin feeling better soon. Unfortunately preying wouldn't do much good right now.

"Get out. Get out of my head!" Yumi yelled.

_So sorry, I didn't realize that you were telepathic,_ said a voice. _There is that better?_

I turned around and saw a dark shadow standing behind me. The shadow suddenly began to fade and disappeared. Then as suddenly as it was gone the people started to move again. I looked at Yumi and saw that she was feeling better, but had tears running down her eyes.

I quickly got up and went over to her. I put my arms around her and hugged her. I didn't know what was going on but I knew that now Yumi was the one who needed me. I told her that it was ok; what ever had hurt her was gone.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Something came and I heard voices, thousands of voices in my head. I tried to shut them out but I couldn't. It was terrible, Ulrich, I couldn't think, I couldn't breath."

"Well, what ever caused it is gone now…" I told her.

She looked around, and then she closed her eyes. She turned her head as though she were still looking with her eyes open. She suddenly put her hand up to her forehead. Then she opened her eyes.

"It's not gone. I can still feel it, not the voices, but it itself." She said to me. "And it's heading to the factory."

* * *

Ouch, a psychic migraine, that hurts, but what is this being, and what the heck does it want? Is it working with X.A.N.A. as was suggested before, or is it something new? Good question, luckily I know already... And soon enough you will too. Just stop complaining! (Not that you are...)


	8. Mysterious Signs Continued: Jeremie

I'm finding something somewhat disturbing, when I use word count in MS Word it gives me a higher number of words then this program does. I don't know what is happening, as far as I can tell everything is here, but if you suddenly notice that it looks like something obvious is missing then please tell me.

* * *

Mysterious Signs Continued

Jeremie:

I was working on finding an antivirus to the virus that X.A.N.A. had put in her. I was not having much luck. This seemed to be just as hard as materializing her. X.A.N.A. had managed to scramble the coding so much that my computer couldn't even read it. Aelita and I were trying to descramble it enough so that we could begin working on an antivirus.

Aelita was in a window facing me, and I was working in a window next to hers. Every now and then she would look over at me, or I would look over at her. Who ever looked would blush slightly and turn back to their work. It was ironic in a way, if she had been on earth with me and we were working on something similar I was almost sure that we would be doing the same thing.

"Aelita, how is it going on your end?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh, the same, it seems that X.A.N.A. really did a good job with this one." She said. "From what I have descrambled the virus appears to be almost like the equivalent of a genetic mutation. I would almost go as far as to say that the virus that infected X.A.N.A. put a little of itself into my coding. The coding that was placed in mine has managed to start mutating my 'DNA'. But that is just from what I have unscrambled."

He had placed some of himself into her… No, that couldn't be. If it was translated into genetics… but I couldn't think about that, it just wouldn't happen. It couldn't…

"Jeremie, you look pale." Aelita said. She thought for a moment and then quickly said, "No, I don't mean it that way… it's very different. More like a mutagen then that…"

I exhaled. Well if Aelita didn't think so, then I would ignore it. It was silly of me to think that way anyway. It was a genetic mutation, not… anyway…

"Wait, you have more data than I do, can you send some of it to me?" I asked.

"Sure," she said smiling. "I'm sending it right no-"

The link ended and Aelita's window disappeared. In its place another window opened. The window had the X.A.N.A. symbol in it, but as suddenly as it appeared it began being replaced slowly by the symbol that had appeared on my computer the last time the link was cut.

This was bad; I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it was bad. Even if what ever this new element was didn't work for X.A.N.A. it still might be a problem. If it was someone or something that was intelligent enough to hack into X.A.N.A. then it could become even more of a threat than X.A.N.A. himself. If on the other hand it was X.A.N.A. then we were still in trouble because he had become more powerful.

I quickly got out my cell phone and called Yumi. The phone rang a few times but no one picked up. I then tried Ulrich and he picked up after the third ring.

"Hello, Jeremie?" Ulrich said.

"Ulrich, we need to get to the factory." I told him.

"Well, we are way ahead of you. Yumi's telepathic sense picked up again and we are following something to the factory."

"What? Yumi's telepathic sense has activated itself again? This might be worse than I had thought."

"Believe me Jeremie, it is. Yumi was screaming in pain because of what ever this is."

"It's that bad… It could do that to Yumi? Is she all right?"

"She is ok now, but you should have seen her. What ever this is it is more of a threat than any of us could have imagined, it might even be worse than X.A.N.A."

"Ok, I'm going to call Odd and we will meet you there." I said to him.

"Don't bother. Yumi has been trying and hasn't been able to get a hold of him."

"Then I'll just meet you there." I said wondering where Odd could be if we couldn't get in touch of him.

I quickly grabbed anything that I though that I might need and made my way out of the dorm. I was in such a hurry that I was running sporadically. I narrowly hit the wall a few times, and when I came to the stares I suddenly remembered the last time that I had run down them. I had been running from Jim, and had tripped on the stares spraining my ankle.

As soon as I was at the bottom of the stares I began running again, and as a result I ran into Jim. He stopped me in my tracks and moved me a few feet in front of him to have a look at me. I knew that I had made a mistake and was about to pay for it. Jim had that 'boy are you going to get it now', better known as the 'what are you up to this time' look on his face.

He opened his mouth to speak, but then something crossed his mind and he said, "You know that you shouldn't run inside the school like that. From now on I expect you to be more careful."

I was shocked. I had really expected him to bust me and ask me what I was up to. I guess the time that we stuck up for him and saved him from the headmaster was still freshly in his mind. I thanked him and moved to the door as quickly as walking would allow. As soon as I was outside I began running again.

* * *

By the way, I am making an attempt to deliver quality chapters of no less than five hundred words, so far I have done great... But I could do better, I'll try to make it no less than a thousand, but for now it will be somewhere in between.


	9. Mysterious Signs Continued: Yumi

Wondering what happened to Yumi? Well, be prepared to read nearly two thousand words explaining it. This is my longest chapter so far. I just hope people approve...

* * *

Mysterious Signs Continued

Yumi:

Ulrich and I were sitting at a café; we had been there for a little over an hour. We had gotten something to eat, and for the most part Ulrich had eaten. I was thankful that he wasn't feeling ill enough to eat. That would have been a problem. I was glad to see that this problem with Sissi was not troubling him enough to make him loose his appetite.

For the most part I had done my best to cheer him up. I had done everything that I could think of, except for one thing… but I didn't want to do that, yet. A kiss was supposed to be special; I didn't want to use it unless the moment was right. I could tell that most of what I was doing was helping him; the color had returned to his face, and he wasn't breathing as shallow as he had before.

As I watched him my heart began beating a little faster, filling with love and joy. I always felt this way when around him, but this time, for some reason, I felt it more. I knew Ulrich needed me, he needed me… The fact that I was his choice, his love… it made my heart sing with joy. I loved the way I could bring back the life within him, the way that when ever he was around me he seemed to be livelier. It made my head swim that when he was around me he seemed more gentle and caring, and at the same time so much stronger…

Thinking all of this was beginning to make me blush, and I turned away for a few seconds. When I looked back his face had paled again. I jumped, my relief draining away and was replaced with concern again. My looking away couldn't have created the effect of my leaving… could it? No… this was something different.

"Ulrich, are you ok?" I asked, my voice showing only half of the concern that I felt. "You look pale."

He jumped slightly and the color returned to his skin. It made my heart flutter to know that my voice alone could bring him back to reality so easily. But I was still concerned; the color had drained from his face again… I looked at him, into his face, his eyes. Our eyes met and we both began to blush. I was so happy to simply be there with him; that was enough to make my world fine.

"Yumi, what should I do?" he asked me. "Sissi is going to want to know what is going on, and if she figures it out herself we will be in for more trouble than it's worth."

I smiled; he was asking me for advice. It made me happy to know that he felt comfortable asking me for advice. Yet, at the same time I knew what he meant. We had to be careful of who found out about Lyoko, I knew what would happen if we told the wrong person… it had happened so many times in the 'past'.

There was one safe thing we could do though. We could tell her only what she needed to know. We could tell enough truth to get her off of our backs and then lie the rest of our way through. It was simple enough to work, and it should get Sissi to leave us alone.

"Perhaps we should tell her." I said. "Tell her at least enough for her to know what is going on. We could even lie about it."

"Are you saying that we should tell Sissi about Lyoko? Bring her into the gang? Yumi, that isn't like you."

Well, it wasn't like me, but it wasn't what I was saying either. What I was trying to say was far simpler than that.

"I know, I wasn't suggesting that much." She told me. "Just to tell her what she has a right to know."

"But that's just it; I don't know what she has the right to know…" he said quickly in a depressed tone.

I knew that no matter what decision he made it would be a good one. I believed he would know what to do when and if the situation arose. Besides it wasn't like he would have to do it alone, we would most likely be there with him.

"Ulrich, I trust in you. I believe in you." I told him. "I know that when it comes to it you will be able to make the right decision."

He smiled, and I smiled. Slowly he began to blush, and he turned his head to one side trying to hide it. He looked off in one direction, watching people pass by.

"Thank you Yumi, that means a lot to me." He said.

My heart jumped. I felt really warm inside. My love for Ulrich was pouring through me, and… for some reason I could feel his love for me doing the same. I suddenly felt that now was a great moment. Now was the best moment to kiss…

_Kiss him,_ said a voice. It was so silent I didn't even notice it.

"Hey, Ulrich, remember that time on Lyoko? A few months ago, when the X.A.N.A. attack was aimed at the scanners and if we died we died for ever." I asked blushing even more. "Do you remember just before Aelita deactivated the tower?"

Now he was really blushing, he was beginning to turn beat red. I knew that he was remembering the time. It was a while ago, Ulrich and I had, for some reason, been having a problem with our relationship. When we found out about the X.A.N.A. attack we went to Lyoko. Because of the attack we were stuck, and if we died in Lyoko we died in real life. I had nearly died, but Ulrich had saved me. That time, in Lyoko, we nearly kissed.

"Yes, I remember, when we almost…" he trailed off.

"… Kissed?" I finished for him.

_Kiss him… No one will see; you are protected. Kiss him…_ the voice said again a little louder.

We looked at each other, and our eyes met. Slowly Ulrich and I began leaning forward towards each other our eyes closing and lips extending. This was it, we were finally about to kiss. Nothing could ruin the moment…

Suddenly I heard the thoughts of the people around us. Everyone's thoughts entered my mind at once. It was defining; it was maddening. I tried to stop it by putting my hands over my ears, but that only made it worse. I could feel thousands of emotions, thousands of thoughts at once. I couldn't think, I couldn't move, I couldn't even breathe.

"Ah, ow, no, my head!" I shrieked in pain.

Suddenly I felt it; I felt the thing that was doing this. It was huge; it was the most powerful psychic presence I had ever felt. It was one thought above all the rest, almost controlling them. It was the thing that was doing this, but for some reason it didn't feel evil… Its thoughts were peaceful. It could sense all the other thoughts, but it didn't mind, almost as if it had enough control to stop everything, to pause time itself…

I suddenly felt it entering my mind. It was probing me, looking through my thoughts. It didn't seem as though it was trying to cause any harm, but it's presence in my mind was as painful as death. I couldn't stand it, I could barely stay conscious.

"Get out. Get out of my head!" I yelled at the presence.

_So sorry, _it said. _I didn't realize that you were telepathic._

I felt it leave my mind. My mind began to stop swimming as much and the voices died away. It felt almost as though it was putting up a barrier for me to block out the voices.

_There is that better?_ It asked.

Why, why had it been here? Why had it done that? Who or what was it. It didn't feel evil, but there had been so much pain. It had been as though my mind was being torn apart and burned from the inside out. I just couldn't understand it.

Suddenly I felt it begin to disappear. I heard the people around us begin to move again, but I wasn't satisfied. I had to know what this thing was. I needed to know what it was doing here, and what it wanted with us. I began to track it as it disappeared.

I felt Ulrich place his arms around me, I saw light and I followed it into his arms. He was hugging me; I could feel his love for me pouring on me washing away the pain, giving me strength again. He told me it was ok; what ever had hurt me was gone. I knew he was wrong though. I could still sense it, moving off to somewhere.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Something came and I heard voices, thousands of voices in my head. I tried to shut them out but I couldn't. It was terrible, Ulrich, I couldn't think, I couldn't breath."

"Well, what ever caused it is gone now…" he told me again.

I looked around; the people on the street hadn't even noticed a thing. It was if the thing had never been here. I closed my eyes and placed my hand against my forehead. Extending my abilities slightly I looked for the thing; I felt it heading south west… I opened my eyes and looked at Ulrich.

"It's not gone. I can still feel it, not the voices, but it itself." I told him my voice quivering. "And it's heading to the factory."

He looked at me shocked. He had known about my powers, almost ever since we met. He had a similar ability, but not as powerful in the same way as mine. We all had some ability, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich and I. They were different but they were real… The thing he didn't know was that my powers were still active. After I had saved Jeremie nearly a year ago, when Odd first arrived at the school; Jeremie had fallen off of the roof, I had stopped using my powers because they were very hard to control.

"Ulrich, we have to go after it. I don't know what it is, or what it wants. It didn't seem evil, but we can't be too careful. This thing is far too powerful to allow it to go around alone."

He nodded in agreement, and then realized he was still holding me tight. He let go and backed away a little blushing. We got up and began running to the factory. I knew we would need Odd and Jeremie so I got out my cell phone and called Odd. The phone rang three times but there was no answer. I tried again but the same thing happened.

Suddenly Ulrich's phone rang and he picked up. "Hello, Jeremie?" he said. Jeremie said something, but I couldn't hear what it was. "Well, we are way ahead of you. Yumi's telepathic sense picked up again and we are following something to the factory." Jeremie said something else and Ulrich replied, "Believe me Jeremie, it is. Yumi was screaming in pain because of what ever this is." Jeremie responded; then Ulrich said, "She is ok now, but you should have seen her. What ever this is it is more of a threat than any of could have imagined, it might even be worse than X.A.N.A." Jeremie quickly said something, but Ulrich interrupted him, "Don't bother. Yumi has been trying and hasn't been able to get a hold of him." Jeremie said something and Ulrich hung up. "He said he would meet us there, and that Lyoko is being hacked."

"We had better hurry then." I said. "I think it has reached the factory by now…"

We ourselves were in sight of the factory. We ran across the bridge as fast as we could, and nearly jumped down into the elevator. We would have to wait for Jeremie to be able to get to Lyoko, but we wouldn't have to wait long…

* * *

To evil, or not to evil? That is a question with which we must all cross at some point, for the children of Lyoko that time is now, and it's about a mysterious entity. What do you think, is it evil or was it a mistake?


	10. Mysterious Signs Continued: Odd

I got a complaint about how the last chapter was a little mushy, that wasn't how they put it. I have a writing stile, I switch between things. If there is ever something you don't necessarily like just wait and you will probably find something you do. Don't stop reading one of my stories just because you come across a part that you don't like.

* * *

Mysterious Signs Continued 

Odd:

I was lost. I was so lost that I had never seen the part of the city that I was in. Nothing looked familiar, and for some reason I couldn't get a phone signal. It seemed that I would have no way of finding my way back to Kadic School, unless I asked for assistance. And if I asked a police officer they would wonder why I wasn't there and I would most certainly get in trouble.

So asking a police officer was out, but it wasn't like I could ask some random adult either. I had always been told not to talk to strangers, and I tried to do as I was told in situations like these. But if I couldn't ask someone on the street then what could I do? I was lost and it appeared that I would be stuck.

The worst part about it was that I kept getting premonitions. I hadn't had them in years but for some reason I was having them now. I didn't know whether or not to trust them either, this wasn't Lyoko and my abilities were not as acute here as they were there. If my abilities led me wrong I may find myself in more trouble than it was worth. Because of that I ignored them when they happened.

For now it seemed as though I was lost in a business area of the city, there were tall buildings all around me. There also seemed to be a river or stream near buy, but I couldn't tell where. There were so many people on the street that I wondered how they could all live in the city. I could barely see anything because of them all.

I stumbled around a little trying to find my way somewhere… I really had no idea where, this was beginning to look like a different city all together. I really just wanted to get home now, but it seemed that there was no way to do so. I would just have to keep walking until either I found my way home or until I was found.

Suddenly I found myself having another premonition. I was being shown to the river, as I reached the river I followed it and found the factory. The factory was upstream to me but since the river wound through the city I didn't know exactly what direction that was in. I could on the other hand use this information to lead me to the river and then follow it upstream to the factory; from there I could find my way home.

I knew that I had just said that I would not follow my premonitions, but this one was so clear, and I could actually help me. All I would have to do was find out if it was true enough to lead me to the river. I could find my way from there. With this decision in mind I began following the premonition to the river.

As I walked the path that I had been shown I soon realized that I was seeing exactly as I had seen in my premonition. It appeared that I had been correct in following this one. I was even soon able to see the river itself. I began running to it excited to find my way home, I dodged running into people, and of course narrowly missed crashing into a few.

By the time I reached the river I was running out of control, if I wasn't able to stop I would fall in. I desperately tried to slow myself down but for some reason the ground was wet and slippery. I began sliding into the river and soon found myself falling over water. I landed in the cold river with a wet splash.

Now I was in trouble. I may have known how to swim but it was useless to try against the river. I was already quickly being drawn by its swift current. And of course I was being drawn away from the factory. Probably the worst part about it was the fact that there were motorboats in this part of the river and some narrowly missed me.

Eventually I stop struggling, it was pointless. If no one in a boat was going to save me then there was no hope. It was too bad that Yumi wasn't here, when I had seen her powers that one time I had been shocked but now they would be useful, not like my abilities. Seeing the future can be useful, at times, like when we are about to take a test… but my abilities never seem to work at times like that.

"I really wish someone would bother to save me." I said to no one in particular. "I'm getting really cold and I don't know how much longer I can keep myself afloat."

_Need some help child?_ asked a voice.

"Who said that?" I asked looking around, but I didn't see anyone. "Great, Odd, now you are beginning to hear things."

_I can help you, but my services don't always come cheap…_ the voice said.

"Well, I am floating down a river freezing my butt off; I don't think I have much to offer…" I mumbled to myself.

_Take my hand,_ said the voice. _Take my hand and I will take you to safety._

"Yeah, right… an imaginary thing will save me…" I said my mood not improving.

"Do you ever want to see Sam again?" asked the voice in a more solid tone.

"What? Where?" I asked shocked.

"Look up…" the voice said again sounding annoyed. "Take my hand if you ever want to see Sam again."

I looked up. There was a man standing above me wearing a black and white cloak with a cape. He looked very strange, almost like a Lyoko character, yet somehow different. In any case I didn't really believe he existed so I chose to ignore him. He was probably just a figment of my delirium, and I did not know how I knew that word…

"Well, if you are going to be stupid then…' said the imaginary man.

Suddenly I felt myself being lifted into the air. The next thing I knew this really weird symbol appeared beneath us that looked like an 'N' in the center of an 'S'. Then a bright white light appeared and consumed everything. When the light faded we were in the factory. The last thing that I saw before I passed out was Yumi and Ulrich appearing in the elevator.

* * *

I made a miscalculation... Everyone is there... That wasn't supposed to happen... Oh, well. It'll all work out in the end, I am sure of it. This 'chapter' will be a little longer. There is more here than you see yet. I intend to write somewhat more intelligently, but that'll mean it'll take me longer. But hey, I have managed to produce nine chapters in three days...


	11. Mysterious Signs Continued: Yumi

Now you shall see _my_ character. I claim rights to it, and the word that is used with it. But other than that please enjoy as part of the mysterious signs are reviled.

* * *

Mysterious Signs Continued 

Yumi:

I stepped out of the elevator, Ulrich followed me. The thing that I had sensed earlier was in here I could feel it. We were in the scanner room; the three scanners were looming up around us, a dull yellow light emanating out of each. We hadn't bothered to stop in the super-calculator room and turn on the lights but for some reason they already were.

I began looking around for the thing, I didn't know if I would be able to see it yet but I knew that I could sense it. I walked behind each of the scanners 'feeling' for it. I didn't exactly know what I would do when I found it, but I would decide that when I did. All I knew now was that I had to find it, and I knew it was in this room.

As I looked for it I suddenly got the creepy sensation that I was being watched. I knew that Ulrich was in the room with me but it wasn't him, he was walking behind me watching me. This feeling was much different; it was as if an intense stare was being directed my way, watching my every move.

Suddenly as I was moving around a scanner I saw a bright light appear from the center of the room, and then I heard a soft dull thud. Ulrich stepped out from behind the scanner, and I noticed we were next to the elevator. I wondered that had been Jeremie.

"Yumi," Ulrich said in a shocked frightened voice. "You need to see this."

I stepped out from behind the scanner to see what Ulrich was talking about and my jaw dropped. There was a man standing in the center of the room, right above the access valve to the super computer room. The man was dressed in the strangest outfit I had ever seen, and that included in Lyoko or television. He appeared to be wearing some sort of white jump suit or tights, but over that he had a full body cloak. He was also wearing a cape and a hood. The most shocking thing was that he was holding Odd in his arms.

"Odd," Ulrich said and began running to the man.

"Ulrich, wait." I said quickly. "This is that thing…"

"That isn't very nice…" said the man. "I did after all save your friends life."

"Who are you?" Ulrich yelled. "And what do you want with us?"

"Me? I am known as the traveler. I am now, and have for the past many years, been the only Aricitic traveler."

"What? Traveler? A-rik-i-tick? What do you mean?" Ulrich yelled. "And what did you do to Odd?"

The man laughed. He gently placed Odd on the ground and I noticed that Odd was dripping wet. Then the man stepped of to the side and landed on the floor. He took off his hood and I saw that he had long golden blond hair. He walked up to and stood in front of Ulrich.

"I did nothing to your friend other than save his life." The man said.

"LIER!" Ulrich yelled and swung at the man.

The man caught his arm and lifted him up off of the ground bringing Ulrich's face to his own. The man said in a very low tone, "I am not lying to you."

"Ulrich!" I yelled as soon as my senses came back to me.

I send a telekinetic wave at the man trying to loosen his grip, but just as it was about to reach him and knock Ulrich out of his hands it stopped and dissipated into thin air. The man turned his head to me; he had an angry look on his face.

"Yumi, I would advise you not to do that again…" he said.

"Put my friend down." I said in a stern voice.

"As you wish, I had no intention to hurt him in the first place." Said the man.

He gently lowered Ulrich to the floor and placed him on his feet. Ulrich backed up looking at the man with his mouth open. He rubbed his wrist where the man had been holding him.

"Ulrich, are you ok?" I asked moving quickly over to him.

"Yeah," Ulrich said sounding surprised. "That didn't hurt at all."

"Huh, where am I?" came Odd's familiar voice.

"I see your friend has awoken." Said the man.

"Hey, it's you…" Odd said getting up looking at the man. "So you really do exist."

"Ok, now I'm confused." Ulrich said. "Odd, what's going on?"

Odd took a deep breath and then grinned. "I was going into town to pick up my wheels for my skateboard, I got lost, found the river, fell in, was in the river for about half an hour." He said in one breath, and then continued, "I became delirious with the cold. Then I heard a voice above me, I had thought it to be in my mind and when I looked up and saw him (pointing at the man) I thought I was delusional. But he pulled me out of the river and the next thing I know we are here. I faint, and wake up again a few seconds later."

"Ok…" Ulrich said.

"Well, that doesn't explain who you are." I said to the man.

He began laughing. He looked at me, and I felt a twinge come on. I looked away for a moment.

"I am known as the traveler, the Aricitic traveler to be specific." He repeated. "And you mispronounced it, it's 'A-rick-A-tick.'"

"That still doesn't explain who you are." Ulrich said.

"My humble apologies, Ulrich, but I will explain that in a minute and thirty seconds." the man said. "You will only have to wait until then."

The man sat down on the floor putting his cloak and his cape around him. Suddenly a point of light appeared three feet in front of him. The point of light began rotating around him in a circular path, drawing a curved line as it went. Once the curve finished, and it became a full circle, an 'S' began drawing itself on the floor beneath the man. I suddenly realized that it was the symbol that Ulrich and I had seen when we were sitting at the bench earlier today.

When that symbol finished the man began rising into the air as did the symbol. He rose about three feet in the air. Once he was finished rising the symbol changed, many more symbols were added as the circle grew and divided into two, one on the inside and the second on the out. I recognized some of the symbols as Japanese, but others I did not know at all.

"What are you doing?" Ulrich asked.

"Please move," said the man to Odd who was standing very close to the edge of the circle.

Odd moved and the man and circle began to levitate backward over the access valve to the super computer room. He centered himself over it and waited with his eyes closed. The circle below him remained there glowing, emanating sixteen different colors.

"What are you doing?" Ulrich asked; I could hear the impatience in his voice. When the man still did not respond Ulrich raised his voice and his fist. "I'll ask you one more time, what are you doing?"

"Ulrich, I see you practice tai chi, isn't one of the practices, of nearly all forms of martial arts, patience?" said the man.

Ulrich was quiet after that. We all were as we just stared at the man bewildered by what he was doing. He was able to make himself unnoticeable, yet his presence was undeniable. I couldn't help myself from watching to see what he would do next.

"Guys, I'm here, you can get into the scanners now." Jeremie's voice made us all jump as it came down through the speakers.

"That won't be necessary, Jeremie, they do not need to go to Lyoko, yet…" said the man.

"What? Hey, who is this?" Jeremie asked.

"If you come down here, I am sure that you will recognize me." The man told Jeremie.

* * *

In case you don't know what word it was, just look at my author name, it's the second one. Anyways, the traveler, in this case, is my character. I claim rights to it, and I would appreciate if no one used it or the word without permission. 


	12. The Mystery of the Traveler: Part One

I just can't stop writing. As soon as I finish one I have to start another. I bet this is good for you all though, it means that you can see what happens next quicker. Well, unfortunately, if this carries over into when I am in school, that won't be happening... Sorry.

* * *

The Mystery of the Traveler

Aelita:

(During the second time Lyoko was hacked)

Jeremie had just asked me to send him all of the data that I had descrambled. I was agreeing to send it to him when suddenly the link was cut. I tried to reopen the link but for some reason it was frozen again. As I watched the frozen window the X.A.N.A. symbol suddenly appeared, then it began being redrawn as the same symbol as before.

I had no idea what this meant, or what was going on. If this meant that what ever it was that had been able to hack into Lyoko before was taking over X.A.N.A. then it was possible that I was in far more danger than even Jeremie could get me out of. If what ever was hacking in right now was that powerful there would be no way to stop it.

Suddenly behind the window came a flash of light, when I looked again there was a man standing there. The man was wearing what looked almost like a Lyoko outfit; it was a long cloak and a long cape. The man also had a hood on which was hiding his golden blond hair.

"Hello, Aelita. I have come to Lyoko to get you." Said the man.

"What, who are you? How do you know my name?" I asked.

"I will explain in good time, child, but now is not that time." He told me. "For now I need to bring you to earth; Lyoko is about to undergo a very dramatic, yet magnificent change."

"What do you mean, 'take me to earth?' And what is this change you are talking about?" I asked him.

"I don't have time to explain. Your friends are, or will be waiting for you. All that I ask is that you trust me."

"How do I know that you aren't X.A.N.A. trying to trick me?"

"That is a good point… But if I _were_ X.A.N.A., or rather the virus that infected X.A.N.A. wouldn't I have tried to attack you yet? Besides have you ever actually seen X.A.N.A. take material form in Lyoko?"

"Yes, he created a virtual world parallel to Lyoko and became one of my friends there."

"Ah, but you see that was not Lyoko, that was a world parallel to Lyoko." Said the man. "Now come, I do not have much time before I must be somewhere else."

As soon as he had finished speaking a guardian began to form around me. I panicked, realizing that I had been tricked, that this was X.A.N.A. because only X.A.N.A. had the ability to control the monsters in Lyoko. I began to pass out, and slowly went into darkness…

When I awoke I found myself floating in a white void. I looked down at myself and found that I was slowly changing into my earth self. I was nearly completely done, and almost fully human. I began to wonder if the man had been telling the truth, I knew that this was not the inside of a guardian, having been in one before.

As I looked around I suddenly realized that I had been here before. This was the 'in-between' place that Jeremie had been trapped in a while ago. I began wondering how long I had been there. If I had been there for to long I would begin being deleted by the computer, and I really didn't want to die that way after all that I had survived through.

As I began to think about death I suddenly realized how much I waned to live. I began to think of Jeremie and the short time we spent together on earth. I waned to see him again. I truly wanted to see him and my other friends again.

_Calm down,_ said a voice. _You are not going to die; I am just putting you here temporarily. You will see your friends shortly._

"Where are you?" I asked.

_I am currently on earth. I am speaking to you through a form of telepathic thought-speech. I have to go, but you will see your friends again in just a moment._

I suddenly found myself fully human. I was just like I appeared on earth. I felt happy again; I knew that I would see my friends again.

* * *

I bet you are really wondering what the traveler is now. Well, wait until next chapter. It will be nicely explained. I just hope the explanation won't take to long... like last time.


	13. The Mystery of the Traveler: Part Two

Sorry it took me so long to update... There are two reasons. First I am having someone check my chapters for errors... And second, and more importantly, the sight would not allow me to log on for a little while... It made me very angry... and I say it that way because I said that I would keep this PG...

* * *

Ulrich:

We were all waiting in the scanner room. Well, not all of us to be exact, we were waiting for Jeremie. The man was sitting in the center levitating over his symbol. He had told us that he would explain everything when Jeremie arrived. I was beginning to get tired of waiting, but the last time that I attacked him I had lost.

As we waited the man suddenly began changing. He began shrinking; everything about him began to become smaller. The clothes began to look somewhat more normal, less ridiculously extravagant. His hair shrank to a reasonable size, and he appeared younger. He almost looked as though he were between the ages of sixteen and seventeen.

The elevator door opened and Jeremie appeared in it. He stepped out and saw the man, or rather young man, sitting in the center of the room. As soon as he saw the boy I swear his mouth dropped. He looked completely stunned.

"You!" He said.

"Yes, me." Said the young man. "I told you I would be coming didn't I?"

"Yes, but that was a dream, how do you expect me to believe a dream?"

The young man sighed, "It was a recurring dream…"

"So…"

"Forty six times…"

"And?"

He sighed again, "Jeremie, did you know that you have an ability like Yumi's?"

Jeremie began to look sick. Apparently he had been hiding something from us, something important. I had thought that we hadn't had any secrets between us, but we did.

"I see you do, but do your friends know? Don't tell me that you kept your secret from your friends…"

"Who are you anyway?" Jeremie asked.

The young man began laughing hysterically. He apparently found this very funny.

"For god's sake… I have told your friends three times, and you every time that I saw you." The young man said. "But I suppose one last time won't hurt… but there is one more person who needs to be here and one who needs to come out of the shadows…"

We looked at each other; no one knew what the boy was talking about. Yumi, Odd, Jeremie and I were all standing in the room. Who else was there? I couldn't think of anyone else, other than Aelita, who knew about Lyoko…

"No way…" Odd said.

"Will you please step out of the shadows now, Sissi." the boy said.

"What, how did you know that I was here?" came Sissi's voice. "And how do you know my name?"

"Simple, I am psychic. I can read minds. But that's beside the point; it was obvious that you were here from the beginning. Why else would the elevator have been down here rather than waiting up at the ground floor?"

"Uh…" Sissi said stepping out from the shadows. She saw me and asked, "Ulrich dear, what's going on?"

"For the last time…" I started, but the boy cut me off.

"Ulrich, quiet, she has a right to know. All she has desired from the start is to be part of this group, and all I have done is given her an opportunity."

"Who is the last person that we are waiting for?" Jeremie asked blushing slightly.

Suddenly a scanner opened, I hadn't even noticed that it was closed until now. As it opened a small amount of smoke came out. When the smoke cleared I saw Aelita standing in the scanner. She was standing up, when everyone else would have been lying on the ground.

"Aelita," Jeremie said running to her. "But how?"

"Well, now that everyone who knows about Lyoko, other than Jim who doesn't remember any more, is here I can finally tell you all who I am and what I am doing here. I just ask that you don't interrupt me until I finish…"

* * *

You are all going to be very angry with me... The next chapter, which is very long, isn't what you are probably expecting... It has over two thousand words, I hope you like it, but I may not be able to update for the same reasons... though I might also wait until I have some more readers.... Muwahahaha... (Cynical laughter...) 


	14. The Mystery of the Traveler: Part Three

My Longest chapter yet... It's a Sissi one, and you might think it is sissy, but, hey, I'm not one to complain... Anyway, since I got yet another review I decided to update, and the review was from someone new. As long as I continue getting them I'll continue sending chapters in. I already have like three in cashe.

* * *

Sissi: 

I had been hiding in the shadows ever since Yumi and Ulrich had entered the room from the elevator. I hadn't expected anyone to be here yet, and I didn't want them to find me because I knew that if they did I would never be able to amend my reputation.

As soon as they entered the room Yumi began looking for something. I couldn't believe it, how could they already know that I was there. And what the heck was Yumi muttering about, sensing something? She began walking close to me and I held my breath, careful not to move. Yumi passed by me with out a second glance. She either hadn't noticed me or was choosing to ignore me. Ulrich was following her, and he passed by me too, but again I was left unnoticed.

I began to wonder what they were looking for, if it wasn't me. I hadn't seen anyone else here. And I doubted that someone else was able to hide from me as well as I was hiding right now. That meant that they might not be looking for a person, but Yumi kept saying something about sensing a presence.

She began moving behind one of the three huge metal tubes and suddenly, in the center of the room, a man appeared. He was holding Odd, who looked as if he had been swimming in the river too long. The man was looking directly at me, but he didn't seem to notice me.

Ulrich stepped out from behind the machine and as he did his mouth dropped. "Yumi, you need to see this." He said, and a few seconds later Yumi came out from behind the machine as well. When she saw the man a look of utter confusion came across her face.

"Odd," Ulrich yelled as the man turned around and he noticed that Odd was in his arms.

"Ulrich, wait." Yumi yelled after him. "That is the thing…"

"That isn't very nice…" said the man innocently. "I did after all save your friends life."

"Who are you?" Ulrich yelled. "And what do you want with us?"

"Me? I am known as the…" but I didn't wait to hear any more. Light was filtering my way and I wanted to stay out of view.

I began slowly and quietly moving backward against the wall. As I moved back and hit the wall I felt something stick into my back. It felt as though it were a handle to something. I turned around and found a small door to a very small closet. The door had slits in it, which would allow me to look through while not being noticed.

Quickly but quietly I opened the door and slipped in. I then closed the door behind me, but I closed it to hard and it made a 'bang'. I was worried that someone would have noticed it, but then I realized that Ulrich was yelling.

"LIER!" Ulrich yelled as he took a swing at the man.

The man caught his arm and lifted him up off of the ground bringing Ulrich's face to his own. The man said in a very low tone, "I am not lying to you."

"Ulrich!" I yelled silently as Yumi yelled it loudly.

Yumi got an angry look on her face, and she appeared to focus on something. Suddenly I got a very strange shock. It was almost as though it were electrical, or static, but somehow different. I felt it move at the man and then suddenly stop and disappear.

"Yumi, I would advise you not to do that again…" the man said.

"Put my friend down." Yumi said angrily.

I didn't hear what the man said because I suddenly felt a spider crawling up my arm. I began to freak out but had to calm myself because I didn't want to be heard. Quickly I smacked it off of me and squished it with my foot. When I turned back to watch the others I saw that Ulrich was standing on the ground again.

"Huh, where am I?" Odd asked.

"I see your friend has awoken." The man said.

"Hey it's you…" Odd said.

Again I didn't hear anything because I had moved into the web of the spider that I had just killed. I nearly screamed, but I got a hold of myself again and began scraping it off of me. I sat down and felt myself in yet another web. Now I really felt like screaming as the terror of more spiders crept through my body. I began flailing taking down all of the webs in the small closet. I then took them off of my arms and hands. Finally when all of the webs were gone, and all of the spiders dead, I was able to focus on the group again.

When I looked back the man was gone, but in his place, or rather the center of the room again, sat a boy of about sixteen or seventeen. The boy was wearing nearly the same clothes, and looked almost the same. It was if the man had grown young suddenly.

The elevator door opened and Jeremie walked out. As soon as he was within sight of the boy he yelled "You!"

"Yes, me. I told you I would be coming didn't I?" the boy said sounding younger and less mature than he had.

I decided that I should move. I felt another spider again, and I was getting tired of being locked up in such a small place. I could get very claustrophobic at times. Quickly yet quietly, again, I opened the door and began making my way slowly out of the closet and into the room again. Making sure to keep to the shadows I began to make my way around the room to get even more out of sight.

As I crawled behind one of the metal tubes, the door closed and I heard the boy say, "For god's sake… I have told your friends here three times- But I suppose one final time won't hurt… but there is one more person who needs to be here and one who needs to come out of the shadows…"

At that I froze. He knew that I was here. How? I had been as quiet as I could be. None of them had heard me…

"No way…" Odd said.

"Will you please step out of the shadows now, Sissi." The boy said.

"What, how did you know that I was here?" I asked getting up and walking towards the light. "And how do you know my name?"

"Simple, I am psychic. I can read minds. But that's beside the point; it was obvious that you were here from the beginning. Why else would the elevator have been down here rather than waiting up at the ground floor?"

"Uh…" I said stepping into the light. I looked at Ulrich and asked, "Ulrich dear, what's going on?"

"For the last time…" Ulrich began yelling at me but the boy cut him off.

"Ulrich, quiet, she has a right to know. All she has desired from the start is to be part of this group, and all I have done is given her an opportunity."

"Who is the last person that we are waiting for?" Jeremie asked blushing slightly.

Suddenly the tube that I had been behind opened again and some smoke came out of it. As the smoke cleared I saw a girl wearing a dark pink jacket; yellow t-shirt; and a purple miniskirt. She looked like one of the new kids in our school, but something was different…

"Aelita," Jeremie said running to her. "But how?"

Now I remembered; she was in one of the dreams that I had had. She had been a new student to our school. They had said that she was Odd's cousin, but I had known different. I had been able to tell something was not entirely right…

"Well, now that everyone who knows about Lyoko, other than Jim who doesn't remember any more, is here I can finally tell you all who I am and what I am doing here. I just ask that you don't interrupt me until I finish…" said the boy. "But first. Someone here needs to know what is going on." The boy said looking at me, and then he looked at Ulrich and said. "I can get you off the hook, but I think it would be better if someone she knows tells her."

The others looked at each other, they all looked uncomfortable. I could tell that they hadn't wanted me to know about this place. That my finding out was a mistake, and they wished it hadn't happened. I began to feel uncomfortable myself because I knew they didn't want me here.

"I'll do it." Ulrich said. "I owe it to you anyway."

"Good boy, I knew you would make the right decision when it came." Said the young man.

Ulrich glared at him and then looked at me. He looked me in the eyes. I began to feel warm inside, he was looking at me, and without hate. I had been waiting for this moment for the longest time.

"Sissi, can you keep a secret?" Ulrich asked me in a serious voice.

"Yes," I told him.

"Are you sure that you won't accidentally tell someone while gossiping?"

"Yes, Ulrich, dear, I can keep a secret." I said somewhat annoyed.

"For the last time… never mind." He said looking at the boy. "Here it goes. There is a world parallel to our own. This 'virtual' world, which we call Lyoko, is controlled by a supercomputer called X.A.N.A. We are not sure when or why it was built but we know one thing, there is something wrong with it. We suspect that a super-virus infected it, but what ever the reason it now wants to destroy our world. We, Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, and myself, have to save the world by entering Lyoko and helping Aelita get to what ever tower is activated. Aelita then enters the code: Lyoko and, somehow, the machine is able to reset time. Only people who have entered Lyoko before are supposed to remember what happened before time reset, to everyone else it is as if the events had never happened."

"So the dreams that I have been having are what happened before time reset?" I asked bewildered.

"That's right." Said the boy. "And because you desired to become part of this group I decided to allow you a way to do so."

"So you are the one who gave her those dreams!" Ulrich yelled raising his fists.

"Ulrich, do you really think that you can hit me now when you weren't able to earlier?" Asked the boy in a smug tone. "Besides, I am not the one who gave her the dreams. She has a gift, just like the rest of you. I just helped activate it a little more."

"Ulrich, all I have really wanted, ever since the beginning of the school year, was to be part of your group." I said.

"Could have fooled me." Ulrich said smugly.

"How can you be so mean?" I asked tears coming to my eyes.

"Now that's something you don't see every day, Sissi crying…" Odd said.

As the tears leaked out of my eyes the look on Ulrich's face went from ticked off to caring. He looked at me with a little less hatred and a little more kindness. I began to feel better.

"Sissi, if you wanted to join why didn't you ask. Why did you always act so… so… I don't know, stuck up?"

"I didn't know how to act." I said tears coming out of my eyes faster. "I didn't know how I was acting. I had though that acting that way would make me popular, but once I found that I was wrong it was too late to turn back…"

Ulrich moved a little closer and placed his hand on my shoulder. He then looked for something in his pocket. When he pulled it out I saw that it was a handkerchief. He whipped my eyes with it and I began feeling much better. I heard Yumi make a noise in the background and Ulrich gave me the handkerchief.

"Sissi, if you want to join I won't stop you… I won't say that you can't, but my friends will have to agree with it as well." He said looking at everyone.

"Well, I'm all for it." the boy piped in as though he were part of the group.

"I said my friends!" Ulrich yelled at him.

"Oh, that hurt." The boy said placing his hand over his heart. "Fine, I'll stay out of this, this time…"

"Well, guys, what do you say?" Ulrich asked his friends.

They looked at each other. Then they looked at me for a second. They turned to look at the boy, and then back to me. Finally they looked at me.

"It's not like we have any choice…" Jeremie said. "She already knows about Lyoko…"

"Depending on what you all say, I could change that…" said the boy. "But what you have seen will be on _your_ conscience."

"I thought you said you were going to stay out of this." Ulrich said.

"Look Ulrich, I don't know what your problem with me is but get over it. It isn't like I have done anything to you…" said the boy. "And what happened to Yumi wasn't entirely my fault, other universes that I have visited, that are similar to yours, didn't have psychic Yumis. At least not one's so powerful…"

"What?" everyone said at the same time.

"Forget it… Just decide… and Ulrich, I am sorry for what ever you seem to hate me for."

"Well, I don't mind it… I'll miss teasing you though…" Odd said.

"I still really can't say no…" Jeremie said.

"I don't like it…" Yumi said. "We just have far too much against us…"

Everyone looked at Yumi. As she noticed that she was being stared at she began to look uncomfortable. "I didn't say no…" she said at last.

"Well, we just have one more vote then…" said the boy.

"I already gave my opinion." Ulrich said.

"I wasn't talking about you…"

We all turned to where he was looking. We saw the girl, Aelita, standing there looking confused. "Me?" she asked weakly. "You want my opinion?"

"Well, you are part of this group…" said the boy.

"Um, ok, then I am ok with it…" Aelita said.

"It's unanimous them. You are now part of this group." Ulrich said to me.

"Well, now that that is over… and since we have used up a lot of time… I can finally tell my story." Said the boy.

* * *

Well, you kept complaining that you wanted to know who he is. The next one is who he is. I need to redevlope that one a little. I want to be sure it is good and makes sense. I have asked one person to do so for me, and I might ask others. If you want a preview e-mail me I use my penname for an e-mail and it's either yahoo or hotmail. 


	15. The Mystery of the Traveler Revealed

Finally, I bet you were all wondering who and what this guy was... Well, you now get to find out. It may be a little confusing. He is my character, and has a history (Which is protected by copyright...) If you get confused tell me so and I will update this chapter as much as needed... I use my pen-name as an e-mail address and I use both hotmail and yahoo.

* * *

The stranger:

"My name is Gwydion Laubach, but I am known as the traveler. I was once the greatest scientist on earth, a different earth in a different part of this realm of existence. I invented many things, many of which were said to be impossible. But two of my inventions were my greatest ones.

"I also believed in magic, and because of this some people believed me to be a 'mad' scientist. I ignored them and continued both practices. I made an attempt to combine what I learned from magic with what I had created with science, and one day I succeeded.

"My first invention was a species that I called Aricitics. They were an ingenious creation, perfectly adaptive, with the ability to manipulate their bodies with just a single sample of what ever they became. Not only were they able to become anything but they could use any ability or knowledge that what ever they had absorbed had. And if the thing that they absorbed a particle from was bitten, and alive, it would become one of them.

"I made one fatal mistake with my first great invention. Because of the way Aricitics were created they were very territorial of their own kind. If anything ever harmed one of their children or of their species, madness would over come that one and it would seek eternal revenge against what ever had made the mistake. They were sentient you see, and sentience is the most dangerous weapon of life.

"The first two Aricitics had children, and only a week after they were born their children were somehow stolen from them. The female disappeared but the male sought revenge against me. At first it seemed that I would be dead but for some reason the Aricitic took to torturing me, and changing the human race into Aricitics…

"In the end I was able to get out alive, and save the human race by changing all of them back. I was also able to send all the remaining Aricitics into another universe and another time. At the time I didn't know if I would ever see them again.

"My second greatest invention was a machine that would allow me to travel into other universes. When I finally had it operational a team of scientists and other people, including myself, went through it. I had everyone else go through first because I had a suspicion. When I went through the machine malfunctioned and sent me through something sometimes called the over-verse.

"I suddenly found myself among the Aricitics again. And I found that I had sent part of myself with them. The part of myself that I had send had, over time, become one himself. But he had also managed to become emperor of half of the species. I decided to have Aricitic capabilities as well, and through the 'Aricitic bite' I managed to gain a copy of their DNA.

"With a hidden ability that I slowly began to use I was able to traverse through multiple universes and gain abilities from other people. I sometimes learned, and sometimes earned the abilities I gained. But I always tried to help people with them, and for the most part I was able to.

"I at one point met up with the first Aricitic again and we fought a seemingly endless battle. In the end I won by taking from him what I had given to him in the first place, a copy of myself, all the evil in my soul at the time. It did not kill him but it disabled him from doing any more harm, or so I thought…

"At any rate as I continued to traverse all of existence I evolved and found that Aricitics had about five evolutions. I also found out that humanity had used my machine to wage war against other universes. They had pillaged the other universes with my machine and taken everything they had. I was angered by their stupidity.

"I punished them and stated that I would never allow a race to use a machine to traverse to other universes. I said that I would destroy any machine that I found. Besides the machines interfered with my ability and usually had a negative effect. My doing this ended eventually, but not until those races that gained the ability learned to use it properly.

"Also, as I traversed, and helped people, I sometimes requested payment for my help. I did not ask for money, usually, but something else equal to the worth of what I did for them. I never charged anything that was unfair, but made sure that I always charged something they could afford.

"I am the Aricitic traveler. I help people, when they need it. Which means that I usually grant, or help them grant their greatest desire."

As I finished I could see that the children were half asleep. My explanation was long, longer than what you have seen. But I knew that what was important had gotten through to them. I knew that they would not wonder who I was or what I was doing in their universe any more.

* * *

Again, if you need to know something more tell me, and I will update. I use my pen-name and use hotmail or yahoo.


	16. Sudden Changes

Well, I'm happy with my reviews... as you can plainly tell because I am updating. I haven't gotten a single bad review on the current form of my character's history. I appreciate that. And just as a reminder, he is my character and that story line is mine... I _do_ have copyright for that...

* * *

Sudden Changes

Odd:

I yawned. I was nearly asleep, the story that the traveler had told us, while it was interesting, was long. I shook off the feeling of fatigue as he finished, and I got up and stretched.

"Well, that was, uh, interesting…" Ulrich said dully.

"Are you kidding? I nearly fell asleep, he sounded like a teacher." Sissi whined.

"I see we have to old Sissi back…" said the traveler grinning.

Her expression changed suddenly and she appeared more calm. She almost looked as though she were older somehow. Maybe it was more mature, but I couldn't tell.

"Anyway, whether or not you heard my story or not X.A.N.A. has staged an attack." The traveler said. "I could probably deal with it myself but I think you all would like to see the changes that have taken place in Lyoko since nine thirty this morning."

"What changes?" Aelita asked. "I didn't notice anything, and I have been in there since then."

"You, my dear girl, were in a tower, I only finished since you were in limbo." The traveler told her. "You wouldn't have noticed the changes, unless you paid attention to the random windows that were opening all around you…"

"What have you done to Lyoko?" Jeremie asked almost enraged.

"What do you care?" the traveler asked. "Weren't you all going to shut it off once you had Aelita in this universe?"

"That may be true, but that doesn't mean that you had any right to change it." Yumi said.

"What's going on?" Sissi asked.

"We will tell you later, but it has to do with that virtual world I told you about a little while ago…" Ulrich told her.

Somewhere behind them I heard Yumi make a noise. I could tell that she didn't like Ulrich being so nice to Sissi. I couldn't tell if she noticed the change that I had yet. I wondered how she would react.

"Well shall we go to Lyoko?" asked the traveler.

"I'll get upstairs…" Jeremie said.

"That won't be necessary, Jeremie, I have it under control." The traveler said.

Suddenly the symbol that he was sitting on began to level itself to the floor. It then began expanding across the room until it was under all of us. Circles began drawing themselves where ever one of us stood and suddenly a bright flash of light appeared and engulfed us. I felt as though I was being pulled by every inch of my body, and once it stopped I found myself standing in a very different place.

Lyoko had most certainly changed. The landscape was much larger than it had been. We were in the mountain region, and were standing on a cliff over looking a valley. It appeared that the bottomless pits had disappeared and the once narrow platforms had grown to fill the entire space. The detail level was also amazing it was almost as though another dimension of detail had been added. As I looked around me I could see grains of sand and small rocks along with small flowers and shrubs scattered across the space ahead of me.

Not only had Lyoko changed but so had we, our 'characters', if you could even call them that any more, had grown up. We appeared to be adults now, and every aspect of that seemed to be true. We were taller, stronger, and more mature than our real bodies on earth. We also didn't have the guises on that we had used in Lyoko before. We appeared to be ourselves, in relatively normal clothing.

"I feel ten years older." I said hearing a change in my voice.

"Not quite, you are seventeen. You all are approximately four Years older. The only one here who is an 'adult' would be Yumi. And even her body is just under that age." The traveler told us. "Now, as before, Lyoko enhances your abilities, but this time it enhances them as though you have grown the actual four years, and then some. You should also keep in mind that since Lyoko appears more real, it is. Don't go doing anything stupid, or you may get hurt."

I looked around at the others. Yumi was much taller, probably five foot, eight inches. She had grown in many ways, some I don't think Ulrich would like me mentioning. She was still wearing black, but her clothes almost looked like a dress. If they were a dress then it must have been made with mobility in mind.

Ulrich had also grown taller; he was just a few inches under Yumi. He was wearing very similar clothes to the ones that he normally wore. He also appeared stronger, not only physically, but also in a different way… I just couldn't place my finger on it.

Jeremie, who had been brought here with us, was also taller, but he seemed a good bit shorter then Ulrich or Yumi. He still had his glasses on and he appeared to be wearing a sort of white lab coat. He also looked stronger, but in the way that I couldn't quite explain.

As I saw Aelita I noticed a similarity to Jeremie, she too was wearing a lab coat, and she looked stronger in the way I could not explain either. Her hair had grown a little longer, and was just above her shoulders. She looked to be the same height as Jeremie. She was also wearing a pair of small glasses, almost like reading glasses.

When I saw Sissi my jaw nearly dropped. She had changed so much; her hair was longer, half way down her back. She looked happy, in a way that I had never seen before. She was wearing a very light purple long sleeved shirt, and long purple pants. She also looked stronger, and suddenly I realized what it was. It was the kind of strength that I had always seen in Yumi. It was maturity, wisdom, and strength of the heart.

I began to wonder what I looked like. I then realized that there was a small pond near us. I walked over to the pond and looked at my reflection, another thing that the original Lyoko hadn't had. I was also taller, just an inch shorter than Ulrich. My hair was still in the flame shape that it had always been. I could see the same strength in myself that I saw in the others.

"Is this what we are going to look like when we are older?" Yumi asked joining me by the pond.

"More or less," the traveler replied as the rest of the gang came to see their reflection. "There really isn't a guarantied way of predicting the future. No amount of magic can give a full prediction; it would collide with free will. Any knowledge would lead to interference… and some of you will need to know this."

"How much can you tell us?" Ulrich asked.

"Very little now, but when I leave I can tell you much more…"

"And when will that be?" Ulrich asked in a hopeful tone.

The traveler laughed. "Not soon enough apparently." He responded. "I can't really say; when my work is done for sure… Ulrich, you will get what you are thinking about."

Ulrich began blushing a beet red. Yumi looked over at him and began blushing as well. Sissi noticed them and made an angry noise; she began walking away from the water and towards the cliff.

"Don't worry Sissi, you will get something you want as well. You already have, but you will be surprised who can become a true friend…"

She stopped at the cliff and picked up a stone. She then aimed and threw it as hard as she could off of the cliff. As I watched the stone flew quite a ways before it started down to the ground again. Sissi looked surprised at her own strength.

"We should get moving, it won't be safe here for much longer." The traveler said. "When I changed Lyoko I accidentally left it open to other things, I only just now realized it. I'm not sure what it will take to close the 'hole' I created…"

"Where is the activated tower?" Ulrich asked. "Jeremie?"

"Don't look at me, I'm here with you. I have no idea what is going on with out the computer screen in front of me."

"Aelita, do you feel any pulsations?" Yumi asked.

"No, none." Aelita said as confused as the rest of us. "Are you sure that X.A.N.A. has staged an attack?"

"You can't feel the pulsations because they aren't here like you expect them to be. You all should be able to feel everything, just open your mind and allow your senses to expand." The traveler told us.

I closed my eyes. This was going to be harder than he expected, for me at least. I tried calming myself, and I listened. Suddenly I heard a kind of heart beat. I began focusing on the sound and I found myself 'seeing' what could only be called a pulsation. That wasn't all I saw…

"Monsters, X.A.N.A.'s monsters. I see two mégatanks, three swarms of roachsters, four crabs, and…" Jeremie said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sissi asked. "All I can sense is a gigantic pillar surrounded by some strange looking creatures…"

Ulrich sighed and explained what each one of them was to Sissi. Once she understood she began to look frightened. Ulrich then explained how we usually attacked and defeated them; she began to look better…

"But I don't know how we are going to do so now…" Ulrich said. "We don't have our weapons."

"Ulrich, I want you to hit me." the traveler said.

"What? Are you serious?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, but only if you do it with all the rage you feel for me."

"All right." Ulrich said and balled his hand into a fist.

He ran over to the traveler and made a swing at him. Suddenly just before he made contact a sword appeared in his hand and a massive light erupted out of it as if it were slicing through the traveler. The traveler himself fell to the ground and disappeared.

"What happened? What did I do?"

_You figured out how to use your power._ Said a voice, the traveler's voice. _You can still use a sward but you have to mean to use it… You can all use your power in some way, just don't get Yumi too mad… I am seriously warning you…_

"But where are you? Did I kill you?" Ulrich asked bewildered.

_No, you couldn't kill me. I simply left a physical form, I'll meet up with you, but first I have to go and meet a virus. I'll see you all later, good luck._

"Wait, what did you mean 'don't get me too mad'?" Yumi asked.

There came no response. We waited for a moment but still nothing came. Finally we gave up and decided to move on. We had some monsters to take care of…

* * *

So Lyoko has been chained. The children are no longer children when they enter Lyoko. What new abilities might they have? What new enemies will they find? And what effect will this change on Lyoko have for the children?


	17. Sudden Changes Continued: Jeremie

I really like how my story have progressed. I also appreciate how many people are now reading and reviewing. I just hope that you all will continue to be as pleased with my story as I am. And please continue to read and review, and feel free to encourage other people to also...

* * *

Sudden Changes Continued 

Jeremie:

I was in Lyoko, it was my fourth time, but it was so different from the other three. The first was a long time ago, and it was a little after I met Aelita. The second was when I went to Lyoko to apologize to Aelita for yelling at her, I had gotten stuck in limbo… The third time was when I had gone in to save my friends from a virtual earth. Two of the three times I had never actually made it to Lyoko, but the first I had. And now Lyoko was so different then it had been.

We were all in older bodies, somewhere around seventeen or eighteen, and we appeared to be ourselves. Not only had we changed, but Lyoko had as well. The landscape was a thousand times more detailed, and the sky looked incredible. The sun was going down and it was nearly twilight. The colors were simply amazing.

I felt a breeze blow against me. I could actually feel the breeze, the coolness and the pressure against my skin. I could smell the flowers as I breathed in and out. I could even feel the coolness of the night against the warmth of the sun. This was something that Lyoko had never been able to do before. Lyoko had been a decrease in the senses, but now it was increasing them far more than I could believe.

"Shall we?" Odd asked looking over the cliff.

"You can't be serious…" Sissi exclaimed. "That has to be a forty-eight foot drop. Nothing could survive that."

"Well, I don't see much choice." Yumi said. "The tower is off in the direction over the cliff, and unless you see any easy way down we will just have to go over it."

"Besides, in Lyoko we have super powers." Odd said.

Odd suddenly began running to the cliff he jumped and literally dived off of it. Sissi ran after him trying to stop him, but he was already falling to the ground as she reached the place where he had been. We joined her at the edge of the cliff and watched as Odd did a few flips in mid air and landed on his feet with the grace and agility of a cat.

"How did he do that?" Sissi asked.

"As he said, we have 'super' powers in here." Ulrich told her. "I bet that none of us will get even slightly hurt when we land."

Ulrich took a few steps back and began running to the edge. He jumped just as Odd had and we watched him land next to Odd. They both appeared to be perfectly fine. It was almost as though they had enjoyed it…

Yumi was next, and then Aelita tried her luck. Finally it was just Sissi and me, and we were both as frightened by the idea of jumping off of a cliff as the other. I decided that I had to do it, there was no choice… I walked back to the pond and began running as fast as I could. I suddenly realized that I was moving much faster than I had expected. I reached the cliff in only a matter of microseconds and flew off of it.

As I flew through the air I saw the ground below me quickly rise up to meet me. I began to panic, not wanting to be a splatter on the ground. Suddenly just as I reached a few feet above the ground a hole opened up below me. The hole was not in the ground, but instead in the air above it. As I fell into the hole I found myself slowing and then I landed on the ground next to the others.

"That was…" I started. "I don't want to do it again."

"Well, all we have left is Sissi." Odd said. "I hope she can find the nerve to jump."

I thought about it for a moment. When the hole had opened I had been thinking about landing next to the others. It might have been my thoughts that opened the hole. If so I could control it, and if that were the case… I began to think about a hole below Sissi leading to a spot next to us. Suddenly a hole opened up in the sky and Sissi fell through it. She looked around shocked to find herself at the bottom of the cliff without having jumped.

"Well, now that we are all here lets continue to the tower." Ulrich said.

We began walking in the direction that we had all felt the tower in. As we walked we looked at our new surroundings and began talking. Sissi still needed to know a few things, but those questions were easy enough to settle. When it really got interesting was when we debated our new abilities.

"Jeremie, you created that 'wormhole' right?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, I apparently can create 'portholes' from one place to another."

"Ok, so your power is some form of teleportation. Yumi's is most likely some form of telekinesis. Aelita's is most likely the same…" as he said this Aelita tested out what she could do by growing a small patch of flowers. "Well, that was correct at least. That still leaves us with Odd, Sissi, and me…"

"Well, before, and on earth, my ability is having premonitions and something like 'out of body experiences'…" Odd said. "I don't see any reason that it should be any different."

"That's true… But what is Ulrich's then? We never really knew what he was able to do on earth." Yumi said.

"We also don't know what Sissi can do." I said. "I mean she was able to remember what had happened even after we had reset time, but the traveler said that was his doing."

"I wonder…" Ulrich muttered to himself. "Triplicate!"

Suddenly Ulrich became three Ulrich's. The three of them looked at one another and nodded. "I thought so." One of him said. "Fusion." The three of them fused into one person again.

"Well, our original Lyoko abilities work that's for sure." Aelita said. "But I feel as though there is something more here… I just can't place it."

"I just thought of something…" Sissi said. "Why are we walking when it would be faster to either run, or for Jeremie to create a 'porthole' to get us there?"

"Oh, that's a good question." I said. "I'll try…"

I focused on the space in front of us for a few seconds and a hole opened. As we looked through the hole we could see the tower and X.A.N.A.'s monsters. One of the monsters noticed us and began firing on us. The monsters looked more real, as did their attacks. The laser reached the hole and came through it. Thinking fast I created another one that the laser went into and when it came out it hit the monster on X.A.N.A.'s symbol.

"I guess the battle has begun." Odd said.

* * *

The next chapter gets a little graphic. A person who is previewing my chapters has advised that I tone it down a little, but if I do it won't get a point across. I will see what I can do to keep it the way it is... But I may have to tone it down... Until then I won't be able to update... 


	18. Sudden Changes: A Drastic Need

**Warning: This chapter has a little extra violence and gore in it. Though it may not be much it is still there. I am keeping the PG rating, but if I get complaints I will either have to change the chapter or change the rating, and I will most like change the rating.**

* * *

Sudden Changes: A drastic need…  
Yumi:

We had entered a battle with X.A.N.A.'s monsters. The monsters had, like everything else, changed. They were more realistic now. They looked more alive and moved as though they were more alive. They also attacked as though they were fighting for their lives…

Currently we had just begun the battle, we had been attacked and Jeremie had deflected it back onto one of the monsters. After that all hell broke loose. The monsters were attacking left and right. We were doing our best to dodge, and so far we had succeeded. We hadn't gotten hurt once.

The down side was that neither had they. None of our team had figured out how to attack yet. Ulrich had been able to do so once but he was finding it difficult to do so now. Odd and I weren't having much luck figuring out how to use our old weapons, being in a new body we couldn't find them. Jeremie and Sissi were new to Lyoko, and they didn't know what their weapons were anyway. As for Aelita, she had never had something to fight back with, so she was stuck.

Suddenly Odd came up with an idea. He ran out into the fire and began jumping on top of the monsters. The others fired at him and ended up hitting their fellow monsters. As we watched and expected them to explode as they usually did we suddenly realized that all of Lyoko was more real. That meant that the monsters would not be easy to defeat.

Once Odd realized this he made an attempt to come back. He jumped from one head to the next narrowly missing being hit. As soon as he was another two jumps until he would reach us a roachster managed to hit him. We heard a cry of pain as he fell back and landed in a circle of the monsters.

"I'm going in." Ulrich said. "Yumi, get him out of there with your telekinesis. Triplicate!"

The three Ulrich's ran into the crowed of monsters and began doing everything they could to attack them. We heard Odd scream in pain and saw Ulrich get extremely angry. He suddenly began using martial arts moves on the monsters, and as he did so a sward appeared in his hand.

"Now this is more like it." We heard him say.

I focused on Odd and began lifting him out of the group of monsters. I sensed that he was already badly hurt. I worked as quickly as I could to get him out of there as fast as I could. I lifted him above the monsters and moved him over to us. I then placed him on the ground between us.

We now had a good look at him, and we were shocked. He was bleeding, and badly. I had never seen blood in Lyoko before, and never this bad in my life. We had to do something or Odd might die. The thing was I couldn't think of anything to do, one of my best friends was going to die and I could think of nothing.

I could feel rage boiling up within me. My hands began to shake as I got up and looked at the monsters. I felt my rage begin to peak as I watched Ulrich try to destroy the monsters and fail just as Odd had. As my rage boiled I felt my telekinetic power leap dramatically. I focused my rage on one of the monsters and the space around it began to change. The block began to vibrate madly as it was squished by a special anomaly that had appeared around it. Suddenly the block imploded spewing greenish red blood everywhere.

I focused my attention on a hornet. The monster began to spin extremely fast clockwise. As it spun it began to compress inward into a fine thread leaking a bluish green blood. Another hornet flew near it and began to be sucked into the vortex that I was creating. It squished just as easily as the other one had.

I focused on a megatank. Its sides began to spin in opposite directions and they ripped off. I then threw the sides on to a roachster and crushed it. Lifting the sides I threw them around another hornet and enclosed the hornet in the sides of the megatank. I then shook the sides smashing the hornet into a small ball. When I opened the ball that the megatank's sides made black and green blood poured out.

By now Ulrich had stopped fighting. He was damaged but not as badly as Odd. He watched what was happening and then looked at me.

"Yumi, stop! This isn't like you!" Ulrich yelled.

I couldn't stop; the rage was burning furiously inside of me. I felt as though I were about to burst into flames. As the feeling continued fire like light erupted around me. I felt a breeze as the air was drawn towards the fire. The wind should have put it out, or at least cooled me off, but it only made it worse.

Suddenly the flames turned black. I could feel myself being lifted into the air, but I no longer had any control. A burst of the energy flew not three feet away from where Ulrich was standing and hit a block. The block caught on fire and began moving around desperately trying to put itself out until it fell to the ground and stopped moving.

The fire around me extended, and as it did the night grew darker. I didn't know if I was causing the darkness or if it was just that the sun had set, but it was becoming darker than night. The fire erupted sending waves at all the monsters erupting them in dark flames and throwing them into darkness. The flames nearly didn't distinguish between friend and foe, nearly hitting my friends many times.

"She's lost control!" I just barely was able to make out Jeremie's voice. "We have to do something or she will destroy everything, including us."

"How do you expect we stop that?" I heard Sissi say.

"I'll do it!" Ulrich said.

"WHAT! Ulrich dear, you can't be serious, she'll kill you!" Sissi retorted.

"You have a better idea?" Ulrich yelled at her. "I'm the only one who can reach her now…"

"He's right." I heard a voice say. I didn't recognize the voice at first. It wasn't one of my friends'.

Suddenly I saw a bright light appear in the sky in front of me. I couldn't tell what it was at first. It appeared to be humanoid but it had wings three tails and was covered in golden green fur. It almost looked like a dog that had been mutated into a human, or to be more precise a werewolf. The long mouth and pointed ears, along with bulky arm and leg mussels and sharp claws really fit the image.

"Ulrich, listen to me. I warned you not to get her too angry. She has lost all control of her emotions and rage has consumed her. If you can't reach her all of Lyoko, and earth, will be destroyed. And if you can't reach her, and stop her, I will have to. Believe me, you don't want that…"

"I already said that I would do it, you don't have to encourage me!" Ulrich said. "Now, you started this, how do I reach her?"

"Open your heart and mind. You are all connected here. If you feel something then the one you direct it to will feel it as well."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ulrich asked.

"Watch your mouth, this is supposed to be PG…" said the voice. "You will understand in a moment…"

Suddenly another bright light appeared. This time I saw Ulrich, but he had wings… and looked a lot more like an angel than a living person. He saw me and started moving to me. As he came closer some of the rage dissipated and I began feeling an overwhelming sensation of love…

* * *

So, how was it. Please give your opinions. They are much appreciated and valued...


	19. Sudden Changes: A Desperate Act

Yeah, sorry about not updating for so long... I have been having Internet issues; I recently switched from Broadband to Dialup. It will take me longer to upload things now. I can't be on every day you know. On the other hand I will still be writing so I will upload as much as I have all at once.

* * *

Sudden Changes: A desperate Act

Ulrich:

(A few seconds before)

I was fighting against X.A.N.A.'s monsters; it almost felt as though I were fighting for my life. I was trying to get Odd out from within them, or at least distract them long enough for Yumi to be able to. I was using every thing that I could think of, hitting the X.A.N.A. mark and so forth, but nothing seemed to affect them.

I saw Odd lift up and move over to my friends and Sissi. I wondered how badly he would be hurt. It made me burn inside to think that we were so easily damaged in Lyoko now. I knew that it was all the traveler's fault for making Lyoko like this, and I hated him for that.

Suddenly I heard Yumi scream with rage. A block near me exploded sending blood everywhere. Another one did the same, and similar things were happening to the monsters all around me. They were all being horribly mutilated, and as I turned around I saw that it was Yumi doing this.

Yumi began levitating in the air; black flame erupting around her. The flame shot at the monsters and they began burning into black ashes. The flames also nearly hit me and I saw it get very close to the others. I knew that Yumi had become as enraged as the traveler had warned to not make her and because of that she had lost all control.

"She's lost control!" I heard Jeremie yell. "We have to do something or she will destroy everything, including us."

I felt like screaming back at him, "No duh, we can plainly see that! So what do you expect us to do about it?" but I kept my mouth shut.

"How do you expect we stop that?" Sissi asked for me.

Suddenly I got an idea. I believed that I could stop Yumi. If I could get close enough to her I could calm her down and she would regain control. It would be risky, and I would probably get hurt, but for Yumi, and the rest of us that was a chance I had to take.

"I'll do it!" I yelled above the roar of the fire.

"WHAT!" Sissi screeched. "Ulrich dear, you can't be serious, she'll kill you!"

"You have a better idea?" I yelled nearly screeching myself. "I'm the only one who can reach her now…"

Suddenly a very bright light appeared as the traveler rejoined the group. He put both of his hands together, cupping them around an imaginary ball. Light began moving towards the center of his hands; lights of fifteen different colors: red, light blue, dark blue, dark brown, leaf green, silver, very light blue (nearly white), yellow, white, black and a strange shade of green. The lights joined in the center of his hands and formed a ball. Suddenly the ball expanded towards me and separated around me hitting all of the monsters that were left.

"He's right." The traveler said. He straightened himself out and stood up strait. Suddenly a two pairs of wings appeared behind him, one bat like and one bird like. His hair extended back a ridiculous amount again and turned a shade of golden green like his wings. "Ulrich, listen to me. I warned you not to make her too angry. She has lost all control of her emotions and rage has consumed her. If you can't reach her all of Lyoko, and earth, will be destroyed. And if you can't reach her, and stop her, I will have to. Believe me, you don't want that…"

"I already said that I would do it," I said angrily at him. "You don't have to encourage me! Now, you started this, how do I reach her?"

"Open your heart and mind. You are all connected here. If you feel something then the one you direct it to will feel it as well."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I raged at him knowing exactly what it meant.

"Watch your mouth, this is supposed to be PG…" he yelled at me. "You will understand in a moment…"

The traveler touched his right pointer and middle finger to his forehead and then pointed at me. A bright green light came out of his fingers and illuminated around me. I saw white flames erupt around me, much like the black ones around Yumi. Suddenly I felt an itching sensation on my back as two wings grew out of my back.

I knew what I had to do. I focused all of my feelings for Yumi around me and flew up to her using the wings that the traveler had given me. The flames around her had reached a four foot width around her and the air was beginning to move in funny ways. It was almost like certain areas around Yumi were mirrors. As I reached her the flames around me met the flames around her and they began to disappear. I barely noticed that everything, all of Lyoko, my friends, Sissi, and the traveler had vanished into a black and white void. All that I noticed right now was Yumi; all that I cared about now was Yumi…

* * *

I do hope that you all continue reading and enjoying my stories. Remember if you read something you don't necessarily like just keep reading you will probably find something you do...


	20. Sudden Changes: A Desperate Act Continue...

Well, I have a bit more to go. I have already written another two or more chapters... Of course I have to get them proof read by my wonderful editor... but I will be sure to put them on as soon as that happens.

* * *

Sudden Changes: A Desperate Act Continued

Aelita:

Ulrich was volunteering to 'stop' Yumi from destroying everything. Yumi was completely consumed by black flames representing her own rage. The traveler was watching as everything went on. Jeremie and I were staring blankly not sure how to react to anything anymore, and the new girl, Sissi, was nearly foaming at the mouth so to speak.

The traveler had done something to Ulrich and he was now consumed by bright white flames and had wings. I could feel a sort of pulsation emanating from the two. From Ulrich I felt an overwhelming sensation of peace and love, and from Yumi I felt an overwhelming sensation of anger and hatred. As Ulrich moved closer to Yumi the emotions began to overlap and disappear as did the flames. Suddenly the two of them were no longer encircled with flames but instead two spheres and as the spheres collided they disappeared…

"What happened to them?" Jeremie demanded shocked.

"They canceled each other out…" said the traveler. "Jeremie, with your extensive knowledge of science I would think that you would know that two polar opposites would cancel each other out."

"That's not what I meant… Where did they go?" Jeremie tried again.

"Oh, right… The energy that they were emitting was far to overpowering, and this universe could not withstand it. They were transported to another universe until they resolve this issue." The traveler told us. "In the mean time, we need to deal with him."

We all turned out attention to Odd who was lying on the ground unconscious. He was still bleeding, and it didn't look like that was about to stop. I began to feel a little nocuous and faint.

"What do you mean, we? You started this; you should finish it and help Odd." Sissi said.

"Sissi." The traveler said as if he had just remembered something. "I seem to recall that Ulrich once said that you would make a good nurse… Perhaps your power is healing. Shall we find out?"

"Uh… What?" Sissi said blankly.

The traveler sighed. "That's right, the only one of you all who actually really knew that you had 'powers' was Yumi… Ok, Sissi, to heal a person place your dominant hand, which ever one you use for everything, over the wound and visualize, in your mind, the wound healing at a faster rate…"

"I… Uh, ok…" Sissi said and did as the traveler had suggested.

A bright pink light appeared below her hands as she placed them over Odd. The light extended outward and into Odd; spreading where ever he was wounded. His wounds illuminated with the same color and began to disappear. As his wounds disappeared Odd began to wake up.

"What happened?" Odd asked half asleep.

"You were attacked and wounded badly. Yumi lifted you out of the battle and Ulrich took your place." Jeremie told him. "Sissi just healed you…"

"Oh…" Odd said. "So did we beat them?"

"That isn't as easy to answer." The traveler told Odd. "Ulrich was unable to figure out how to destroy the monsters, but Yumi did. Unfortunately she lost control and began attacking everything. I finished what she had started but Yumi was unable to regain control herself."

"What happened? Is she ok?" Odd asked nearly fully awake again.

"Oh, she is fine. She and Ulrich are in another temporary space until she calms down. Mean while we need to get into that tower…"

"Don't you mean me?" I asked. "I am the only one who can enter the code."

The traveler turned and looked at me with a strange, somewhat angry, somewhat saddened look on his face. He landed and folded his wings and took a few steps closer to me.

"My dear Aelita, I am so sorry." He said still looking at me. "I forgot to tell you all the greatest reason that I am here."

"And that is?" Jeremie asked.

"Why, it's to free Aelita and eliminate the X.A.N.A. threat of course." He said as if it were obvious. "But as I said earlier I charge a price for my services, a fair price but it's there just the same."

"What is the price?" Jeremie said; I could hear the bitterness in his voice.

"Oh, nothing much… just something that you were going to throw away anyway. But the decision is yours, Aelita, and yours, Jeremie."

"Ours?" Jeremie and I asked at the same time.

"Yes, because what I am asking for currently belongs to the two of you."

"What is it? I don't really have anything…" I asked.

"We just happen to be within it…" the traveler told us. "All that I ask for my services is Lyoko and the factory that the super computer that X.A.N.A. is within."

"You want…" Jeremie started his jaw dropping.

"My home?" I finished for him.

"Well yes…" the traveler said beginning to pace. "But if you agree it won't be your home for much longer. And I don't require payment until you are thirty five. So really, you won't loose anything."

"Well, I suppose that we were going to shut Lyoko down anyway…" Jeremie said.

"And if I will be able to live on earth it will be worth it." Aelita said. "Besides we won't have to be able to give up Lyoko until we are thirty five, in twenty one years."

"That's right…" Jeremie said thinking. "Why then anyway?"

"All I can say about that is because of what your jobs will be when you are adults. If I told you any more I would ruining the 'end'." The traveler told us.

"Hey, I am still here you know." Sissi said. "What about me?"

The traveler turned and looked at her. He then began walking over to her calmly, yet still in an intimidating way. I don't know what it was but this feeling of utter respect emanated from him. It was almost as if something he held within himself was so great that it was impossible for him to not be awe inspiring.

"The service that I have done for you will cost you something different." He said to Sissi. "My fee for this is that you help me get a job in your father's school."

"What? Why?" Sissi asked.

"My reasons are my own, but you will find out soon enough." He told her. "I will be able to take care of almost everything, but I want you to encourage your father to allow hire me. And I don't care how, just do it."

"Ok, fine."

"I will also make a suggestion. Don't mention any of this to your current group of friends. In fact act as if nothing has happened at all. You don't want the extra attention drawn to you or them."

"Right."

The traveler turned to the tower and then looked back at me. He walked over to me again and flipped his right hand three times. A piece of paper and a pen appeared in his hand. He gave them to me and I looked at it. The paper appeared to be a contract of some sort.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It's the contract to make our deal legal. If you will read it over and sign on one of the two lines I will begin helping you with these problems. Jeremie will have to sign as well."

"Ok," I said. "Is that ok with you Jeremie?"

"Yes," he said hesitating for a moment. "But why only us? Why not Ulrich, Yumi and…"

"Me." Odd said. "Don't I have a say in this too?"

The traveler sighed and looked at Odd. He then sat down on the ground and thought for a second. When he appeared to have come to some decision he got back up and brushed himself off.

"No, only Jeremie and Aelita have legal rights to Lyoko." The traveler said at last. "The reason is that the man who created Xanadu is now, and has been for the past couple of years, dead. He lost all rights to the universe of Lyoko and those rights went to his closest relative, Aelita. She passed those rights on to her friend Jeremie when she met him and requested help with defeating X.A.N.A."

"So then the only living people who have legal rights to Lyoko are Jeremie and me?" I asked.

"That is correct. Now if you will sign the papers I will begin the second phase of eliminating X.A.N.A."

I read over the document and signed it. I then gave it to Jeremie and he read and signed it. Jeremie then gave to paper back to the traveler who, surprisingly enough, ripped it in two.

"What did you do that for?" Jeremie asked shocked.

"You will see." He told Jeremie and suddenly the parts of the paper that had been torn off grew back creating two copies. He then did it again creating a third. "There, one for each of us."

* * *

Just to inform you all I have written a 'romantic' chapter. I had gotten complaints in the past about doing something similar so I made it compleatly indipendent... You can skip over it if you must... And if you can't tell who it is with then I pitty you.


	21. A Romantic SIDE Chapter

This is for you romantisists. If you can't handle it, don't read it. I made it so that **_you won't miss anything._** On the other hand, for those of you who complained that I didn't have Yumi and Ulrich kiss a few chapters back, read and enjoy.

* * *

A Romantic Side Chapter

Yumi:

I could see Ulrich now. He was flying in front of me with wings. The wings looked a lot like angel wings. I wondered if that meant that we had both died… but I was sure that it didn't. I believed I would have remembered dying.

Ulrich was flying closer to me but he looked like he was being forced back. He was struggling just to move forward. I reached out to him trying to reach my hand to his. I could tell that the dark flames were dying down and with them my energy. I was growing tired, very tired. I felt as though I would feint soon, but I had to get to Ulrich first.

I tried moving myself to meet with him. I couldn't tell if I was moving or not because the space we were in was made up of black and white swirling shapes. The only thing I could tell was that Ulrich was beginning to move closer faster now. I felt that we would soon be able to touch.

He had a look like he was really struggling, yet I simply felt tired. I couldn't tell what he was struggling against. We were moving closer much faster and suddenly our hands touched. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. As I quickly moved to him he placed his arms around me in a hug.

All of the anger that I had felt before drained out of me as I felt warmth and love pour in to replace it. I looked up at Ulrich and saw that he looked very tired as well. He was looking down at me smiling.

"Ulrich, I…" I began but he shook his head. "Thank you…"

"Yumi, if you are in trouble or danger I will always be here for you." He said.

Our eyes met and we both began to blush. Our heads slowly began to move towards one another… My eyes began to close as our mouths moved closer to one another. I felt happy inside, not because we were finally kissing, but also because I somehow knew that there would be no distractions this time.

Suddenly our lips met. I felt a feeling of surprise wash over me but that was quickly replaced by a feeling of pure joy and contentment. My lips tingled as they lay pressed against his; I could feel the warmth of his skin against mine. His breath blew slightly against my face and I knew that he felt mine against his face.

We stayed like that for only a little while but it felt much longer. When we finally did pull away I saw that he was blushing. I knew that I was blushing as well, but it didn't matter. I was just happy that we had finally kissed. Slowly my exhaustion creped over me again and as it did I drifted off to sleep…

* * *

For those of you who stayed with my, good for you. I hope you enjoyed my first 'published' version of a romantic chapter.


	22. Questions

Whether or not you read the last chapter or not **_doesn't matter, you didn't miss anything._** If on the other hand you like a good bit of romance, then stop and go back. That was written for you.

* * *

Questions

Ulrich:

Yumi and I were still in the space that the traveler had sent us to calm her down. Yumi had calmed down and the dark flames had gone away. We had just broken away from a kiss, our first kiss… Yumi had just fallen asleep and I suddenly found myself back in Lyoko, or rather the new Lyoko.

As soon as I was back I suddenly felt Yumi's weight. She fell slightly in my arms, but I was, surprisingly able to lift her with ease. I guessed that it was the more adult body that I was in. I began wondering again if this was what I would really look like when I was this age. It was at least possible, maybe not likely though…

I looked around and found that I was next to the tower. I looked further around and saw that the others were coming closer lead by the traveler. Everyone but the traveler looked surprised to see us there. They began running and waving at me. Soon they caught up and began asking me questions.

"Ulrich what happened, where did you go?" Jeremie asked me.

"I was in another strange space. Everything around us was black and white and there were no recognizable shapes." I replied.

"Why is Yumi unconscious?" Sissi asked skeptically.

"My dear child, if you were to expend half of the energy that Yumi just had you would feint as well." The traveler took it upon himself to answer.

"Oh," Sissi said and dropped it.

"What happened in there?" Aelita asked.

"And what is everyone talking about?" Odd asked confused.

"That's right you were unconscious…" I said. "Yumi lost control and started killing everything, but she didn't stop there so we had to calm her down to stop her. The traveler brought us to another space so that we wouldn't destroy anything. In that space I was able to calm Yumi down."

"Oh," Odd said then he began grinning. "How did you calm her down?"

"What? What do you mean, how did I calm her down?" I asked taken aback.

"Yeah, Ulrich, dear, how did you?" Sissi asked again in a very suspicious voice.

"What are you talking about?" I asked; everyone was looking at me as though I had done something and was keeping it from them… "I didn't _do_ anything!"

The traveler coughed. "Ulrich, just thought you should know that you are all in bodies that are four or five years older than you are use to… Most girls start wearing lipstick somewhere in their teens…"

"So-oh…" I said and wiped my lips on my arm. There was a small, but visible amount of lipstick on my sleeve when I pulled it away. I began to blush and prepared to explain like mad as soon as I could but everyone was frozen. "What, what happened?"

"Well, you obviously wanted to keep this a secret." Said the traveler. "I can modify their memories for you if you wish… this will be free of any kind of charge. Simply a thank you…"

"What are you talking about?" I asked and then realized. "For stopping Yumi, right? You will erase that knowledge from them because I stopped Yumi."

"Well, yes." He said walking between my friends. "But also because I gain energy and strength when ever someone is truly happy… and there was a lot of joy recently…"

I began blushing again. He apparently had known what was going to happen. He probably also knew what was happening while it happened. Well, as long as the others would forget and not pester me about it…

"Ok, I would like for you to erase their memories." I told him.

"Sure, but first, would you mind putting her down?" the traveler asked.

"Why?" I asked.

"I am going to wake her, she may be exhausted but I need her awake." He told me. "I am simply going to give her back the energy she expended."

I carefully placed Yumi on the ground. The traveler leaned over her and placed his hands over her. A small light appeared and it began entering Yumi. Slowly her entire body lit up. After a few seconds the traveler stopped and moved his hands. Yumi's eyes opened and she looked around.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked.

"About a minute, but long enough for the others to notice lipstick on Ulrich…" said the traveler.

"They what?" Yumi asked shocked, almost fully awake.

"Don't worry, he is going to make them forget." I told her.

"Yes, but with your permission first of course."

"I already agreed." I reminded him.

"Yes, you did, but Yumi was part of that act as well."

"What? Oh, yes, please." She said.

"Good, well, we will be seeing you in about another minute."

Suddenly the traveler's symbol appeared on the ground again. As it did a light appeared around him and engulfed everything around us. When the light faded I saw my friends in the distance again. We went through the last few minutes again but this time Yumi was able to answer the questions as well. They also didn't figure out what had gone on in the other space.

* * *

Ok, so this wasn't my best work to date, but it coulda been worse...


	23. The Towers

More mysteries are reveled in this and the next few chapters. I hope you all enjoy them and don't kill me... Please.

* * *

The Towers

The Traveler

We were all standing in front of a tower which was about three meters tall, or about a hundred stories high. There were other towers near by, I could feel their presence, and if I really wanted to I could see them as well. This tower didn't hold any particular meaning, not now at least; it was just the easiest one to get to.

The Lyoko children were conversing amongst themselves. They seemed to be happy; they believed that they had nothing to worry about. I knew that they were wrong; they had X.A.N.A. to worry about. I had said that I would deal with it, but by that I had meant that I would create a way for them to finish X.A.N.A. off forever. It was a human who had caused this mess and it would be five young humans who would clean it up. I suppose it would be six if Sissi really decided to fully join the group.

What I had done so far, in helping the children get rid of X.A.N.A., was to change Lyoko into a version which I had visited many years ago. It was the Lyoko Holy Lands, the most powerful place in that particular universe. A similar creature had terrorized the Holy Lands, and similar children had defeated that X.A.N.A. I had decided to replicate the Holy Lands of that Lyoko to do a similar thing here.

"What's with the look?" Odd asked me suddenly.

"We should continue moving." I said. "This is neither the tower, nor is it safe here. We need to get to one of those…"

I pointed out behind the tower to the towers behind it. As the children looked and finally saw the many towers they gawked in disbelief. There were one hundred and thirty two towers in all, and this was just the mountain region. The other four regions were connected through a portal that four towers created somewhere in the center of the group. Luckily we would not have to use the portal this time.

"The tower we want is just one of those. We will know which one it is when we come to it. Now, hold on…" I said.

I placed out a little energy creating bubbles around all six of the children and moving them over the cliff that was in front of us. We slowly made our descent upon the towers as we moved toward the center. I knew an approximate location, X.A.N.A. had been able to trick the children into thinking that the wrong tower was the one that was activated, but that was because of the way that the Holy Lands had been built. I on the other hand had found out from the other group of children how to know which one it was.

As we flew over the towers the children looked down at them in amazement. It was far different than the Lyoko that they had become accustomed to, that and Sissi had never been here before. Most of the towers emanated a dim white, but some of them emanated blue, green, yellow, red, and some other colors. The one that we were looking for was pulsating black ripples in the space around it. To a normal person who did not know what they were looking for or how to find it, it would appear to be just another normal tower.

Suddenly I stopped, I had made a discovery and I didn't quite like it. I created three small balls of my energy, then slowly modifying them I twisted space and time around them making them appear almost mirror like, or more precisely like balls of liquid metal. Once I had finished making them I sent them off in different directions ahead of me. As I had expected two of them were forced into a different path and the third one, the center one, disappeared all together.

"I suggest that none of you ever attempt to replicate what I am about to do now, not here and most certainly not in your world." I said to the children behind me. "I also suggest that you all close your eyes and turn away covering your head and ears with as much of your body as you can…"

"Why, what are you about to do?" Ulrich asked.

"I am about to defy the rules of a universe and defy a 'god' of its will. I doubt that your human bodies will be able to survive this directly if you see and hear what I am about to do."

They obeyed me and covered themselves as much as they could. I then prepared myself for what I was about to do. I knew that this would not be easy, and I most certainly would not be able to do it in this form. I prepared to morph, changing into a more powerful form.

* * *

I betcha can guess what's gonna happen next can't ya? Well, you are either right, or mostly right. Course, you could be wrong as well I guess...


	24. The Towers Continued

Boy I bet you are all happy. I am updating finally. Anyway it isn't like I am getting writers block or anything, just that I am getting a little tired of writing. With school and everything else that I have to do I itch, so to speak, more for other things than writing. Don't worry though, I will never stop, at least not until it is finished...

* * *

The Towers Continued

The Traveler

X.A.N.A. had begun becoming accustomed to the new functions of Lyoko. Before I had made any changes X.A.N.A. had been like a god, but now that I had made those changes and had turned the virtual Lyoko into the Lyoko Holy Grounds X.A.N.A. had become a god. He did not yet fully know his new abilities, and for that I was thankful.

He did, however, know that he could bend space and time within the Holy Grounds. He had done so and if I were to continue transporting the children there was a very high probability that they would either die or something similar. I had begun preparing myself to undo what X.A.N.A. had done. To do so I would have to transform myself into something that I had become recently. It was a creature that was similar to a god, yet was different in many ways.

I was morphing; my body was changing into the more powerful form that I needed to be to defy the absolute rules of a universe, and the will of a creature that had been given god-like status. As I morphed my wings reappeared stretching out to their full span. I had four wings, two bird-like and two bat-like. They were supposed to represent good and evil.

As I continued morphing my body took on a water-like quality which was how my species morphed. My bones shifted places and began adjusting themselves in places. As they did so my legs reversed direction and my wings adjusted themselves closer together. A greenish fur began growing all along my body and a tail sprouted behind me. My neck grew six centimeters longer and the tops of my ears stretched up and backwards taking on an elfish appearance. My mouth and face elongated and my teeth grew longer and sharper.

I was becoming what I had come to call an Absolute God Arisiticen. It was the most powerful form of my race. It had the appearance of a werewolf but it looked very different. My wings grew together forming two wings that looked like a combination of bat and bird wings, and my tail suddenly split into three and grew much longer. As I neared the final stages of the transformation my previous cloths were absorbed into my skin and my fur took on a golden green appearance.

_Well, X.A.N.A. lets see how powerful you have become._ I said in a form of telepathy that used both mental sounds and images. _It doesn't matter really, I am more powerful, and your end is near._

I raised both hands in front of me; slowly I brought them together and began drawing energy to them. A small ball appeared in between them, the ball was emanating a golden green glow. As I continued drawing energy to it ten more balls appeared around it they were the colors of the elements, all ten of them. The element balls began to vibrate as they became accelerated and they suddenly took on a metal appearance just as the ones that I had used before did. Slowly I brought the elements into the other ball which had grown much larger and taken on the metallic appearance.

_Just try to manipulate this._ I said as I released the energy.

A sharp wind was generated as the energy spread out in a beam and dark holes appeared everywhere around me. I directed the energy at the places where the others had disappeared and it suddenly hit something. I could see ripples in space around the beams as they pushed against the invisible substance. Suddenly my energy spread out against it engulfing what ever was there and it began eating away at it. I pushed a little harder and the thing disappeared.

Somewhere in the distance I heard a scream of pain. The scream's echo vibrated throughout the Holy Lands. I knew that I had wounded what could be considered to be immortal. But I also knew that X.A.N.A. would find a way to heal before long. He would be back to stop me again.

I released the form that I was on and changed back to my original self. I turned back to the children, all of whom were shaking frightened. I gently told them that they could stop hiding now and they got up and turned around. I saw that some of them had actually been crying. I then remembered, rather foolishly, that even though they took on adult appearances in this realm they were still only children.

* * *

In the next chapter you will get to find out what is going on with Lyoko. I have given a decent description but I still hope you all enjoy it.


	25. The Towers Continued: Who We Are

I appreciate all of you who have stuck with me and continued to read my story. As a token of my gratification I am giving an opportunity to those who really love it. I also would like to know who else is reading it, so if you read my story and have a user name, please submit at least one review. The more people that I captivate the more encouraged I will be.

* * *

The Towers Continued: Who We Are 

Jeremie:

The experience from what the traveler had just done was indescribably horrifying. The terror that had flown through me was impossible to express in words. The immense amount of energy that I had felt coming from him, as it ripped through my body, had nearly drained the life from me. I was barely able to breath, and I simply couldn't understand why he had done that.

"I apologize, I had forgotten, momentarily, that you were all children. If I had remembered I would have moved you to a safer distance for your, um, age. I hope that it didn't 'hurt' any of you to much. If so, and again I apologize, I am willing to heal you."

"What the hell did you just do?" Ulrich asked his voice cracking.

"I'm not sure you would understand..." the traveler responded. "X.A.N.A. had figured a way of creating a barrier would have killed you if I had taken you through it. I simply destroyed the barrier. It was changing the rules of the universe, and that is why I had to be so 'rough'."

"So you ripped a hole in the universe?" Aelita asked.

"You could say that, but I wouldn't. There is no hole but there isn't something that was there." He sighed. "This is hard to explain."

"How... no, why did you do that?" I asked.

"Jeremie, have you ever tried to defy 'god'?" the traveler asked me.

"No..." I said bluntly.

"Not while you are awake anyway... but Yumi has, her powers defy the law of gravity and a few other laws of nature. The thing she did a while ago, before I sent her into the temporary space, would have killed her if she had continued. She was doing nearly the same thing as I had done."

"I did?" Yumi asked.

"Yes, but because you don't have the same kind of power that I do your effect was different..." the traveler told her. "Anyway, I see the activated tower now."

We began moving down towards the ground. I saw a large tower that was emanating a light green aura. I had seen many similar towers on the way here and I couldn't tell why this was the one that was active. There seemed to be no distinction between this one and the others that we had passed.

As we neared the tower the traveler said, "Brace yourselves, you are about to feel something nasty..."

I didn't understand what he meant until suddenly I felt as though I had become nauseous. I felt quivers run through my body and into my stomach, then out of my stomach and back through my body. I nearly fell over but Aelita stopped me before I fell. I looked over at her and she looked at me. She looked nearly as bad as I did, but she was still able to stand.

"Only a few more steps..." the traveler informed us his voice vibrating through the air as though we were underwater.

As I took another step I came out of the invisible veil that had been surrounding the tower. I looked back to see what it had been and noticed that the tower was pulsating a murky black. As each pulsation was created the space that it went through was altered and the light bent around it. Now that I could see it I found it horrifying.

I turned around and began walking towards the tower again. I saw that the others were already standing next to it waiting for me. I quickened my pace and caught up with them. Once I was among them again they turned to look at the tower again. The tower was as tall as all the others, and it had the same cylinder like shape. The problem was that there was no visible way in. I didn't know how they usually entered the towers but I couldn't find a door of any kind.

"I should warn you all; these towers are very different than the ones that you are use to." The traveler told us. "Follow me..."

The traveler began walking into the wall of the tower and he suddenly began disappearing through it. I was shocked but Aelita and the others didn't seem to be surprised at all. One by one they each followed him into the tower until only Sissi and I were left gawking at the tower. Quickly I followed them into the tower and was amazed by what I saw.

The inside of the tower was far larger than the outside. It looked almost like five towers could fit within it. The floor was stone and engraved in it was the X.A.N.A. symbol; the symbol was emanating a dim white light. The walls also appeared to be made of stone but there was something that looked a lot like fire running up many areas of it. There was a space around the tower that didn't have any floor on it and I couldn't see anything beneath it.

The traveler was standing in the center of the room and the others were waiting around him. He looked at me, and then behind me, presumably at Sissi. He then looked at all of the others in turn. Finally he sighed and began to speak.

"As I told you all before I remade Lyoko after another universe. The universe held Lyoko, and the equivalent of your world, as similar yet different spaces. Lyoko was known as the Lyoko Holy Lands and the version of your world was still known as earth. The world in which your counter parts live is far different than the one which you know. It is more of a feudal era. They do not have the technology that you do, but instead they use strong forms of magic."

"So what were we in that 'universe'?" Yumi asked.

"Your counter part, Yumi, was a princess. She was also a powerful priestess. Her family ruled over a land which is more like Japan than France, and for that matter the continents are very different on their world..."

"A princess huh?" Ulrich muttered to himself. "I wonder..."

"Ulrich, your counter part _was_ a prince, but his kingdom was overthrown and he banished. He had made his way to Yumi's kingdom and lived there for two years of his life before they met."

"They were royalty?" Odd asked impressed.

"Odd, you were a 'commoner', but you held a great power which was unknown to anyone, including yourself. It was only released when your counter part met Ulrich and Yumi. After that your powers began to grow at an accelerated rate."

"What about Aelita?" I asked suddenly.

"Well, that, Jeremie, is the biggest part isn't it?" the traveler said looking at me. "Aelita was another priestess, like Yumi. And like Yumi she was also a princess, but unlike Yumi she was from another universe all together. She was from the Lyoko Holy Lands, the four regions of Lyoko. The largest and most powerful kingdom ever held within any of the hundreds of versions of Lyoko. They had once been in contact with earth, but that ended many years before any of you were born."

"What happened?" Aelita asked.

"They were in contact through a temple, which since the loss had been lost itself. The Lyoko Holy Lands had been watched over by a powerful and peaceful god, known as Xanadu but when a newcomer came into the universe and tried to take power for himself Xanadu turned evil and began demanding sacrifices and other things... the two lands lost contact and the gate that they had used to communicate was lost..."

"So where do I come in?" Sissi asked impatiently.

"You..." the traveler said and coughed. "You were a princess of a different country who had been trying to get married to Ulrich before his country overthrew him. You then did everything in your power to find him again, and upon doing so you continued to try to get him to marry you."

"Oh," she said disappointed. "I see, so even in that place I was a nuisance to the others..."

"Well, what about Jeremie?" Aelita asked. "You haven't said what he was yet."

"Jeremie was the one who found the temple and reopened the gate to the Lyoko Holy Lands. He was the one who got all of you together and brought you to the Holy Lands. It was because of him that this all ended, and just like here it was because of him that any of you met."

"So, we were all brought together then just as we have been now..." Ulrich said thinking.

"Yes, and to answer your question, no, not all universes are the same. To give an example there is a universe where you nearly killed Yumi. There was one where Aelita is the evil X.A.N.A. and he is the good person and one where none of you meet at all. There are hundreds of different universes and hundred of different possibilities."

"So, what you are saying then is that there is a universe for every possible outcome?" I asked.

"No, there isn't. That would require an infinite amount of space. This realm of reality is limited, as is all of existence. There are only a set number of universes total."

"Does that mean that you have been to all of them?" Sissi asked.

"No, goodness, I am not that old... I still have a couple billion more to go... but that's not the point. I will reach the others when I am ready, until then I go to one at a time and deal with that one until I am done." The traveler said. "In any case, the reason that I told you is because you need to know what your role in deactivating the tower is."

"Wait, you mean that Aelita isn't the only one needed to deactivate it?" Odd asked.

"No. All of you are required to deactivate it. Each one of you has a place you will go to within the tower and I will explain what you have to do there." The traveler replied. "Aelita, you have the top floor, Jeremie you are with her. After those two it goes, Yumi and Ulrich, Odd, and finally Sissi."

"How many floors are there?" Sissi asked.

"From the outside the tower appears to be two hundred meters tall. If a meter is three feet and a floor is six feet then how many floors should there be?" the traveler asked.

Everyone began calculating. I had the answer in a few seconds and I raised my hand. I didn't realize what I was doing until I had done it and I quickly put my hand down. The others seemed to be getting the answer as I heard groans all around me.

"Well, most of you got it right anyway. It's one hundred stories, but you won't have to worry about climbing stairs..."

"Why not?" I asked.

Suddenly a light appeared around me. It was similar to the one that had been used to transport me to the tower so I knew that the traveler had done it. I suddenly felt myself moving and saw that I was right as the floor swept away from me. I was moved over the hole that surrounded the center floor and I suddenly felt myself flying upward. I saw ten stories fly past me and I stopped. I was then moved over onto the floor again and the light disappeared.

"What happened? We only went up three stories." I said.

_That is because there are only ten stories. The tower does not obey the rules of your universe. In reality there should be one hundred floors including the ground one, but if there were then far too much energy would be used to hold it up. So instead the creators of the towers only made ten stories in an alternative space. Each and every tower is connected and each floor on those towers is as well._

"So what are we supposed to do?" Aelita asked.

Suddenly the traveler appeared in front of us. He looked first at Aelita then at me. He then held out both arms and two beams of light appeared. The beams hit us and I felt myself changing. My clothes shifted and the sleeves became wider and longer. The chest of my shirt bagged out a little and extended down becoming something like a tunic. When it was done I was no longer wearing a white lab coat but instead a three peace tunic with some sort of frills coming off of it. I would have to say it looked almost like something you would see in an anime... and it also looked like something I was wearing in a dream that I had had once.

I looked over at Aelita and saw that her clothing had changed as well, she was wearing a dress that looked very similar to my clothing but with different colors, and of course it was a dress. As I thought about it I realized that she suddenly looked a lot like an elf again. The clothing matched her completely.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Aelita repeated.

"I'll tell you in a second." He said and disappeared.

* * *

Unfortunately I have some bad news. There are only four chapters left before we must reach an ending. It is sad but life must continue. I of course know this because I have the chapters backed up, just waiting for some previewers and reviewers... You might be able to extend the life of this story though by getting more people to submit reviews. I promise I will write another chapter for every new user who submits at least three reviews. 


	26. Who We Are: The Hidden Meaning Part One

'The end' is near. There are only three more chapters before the towers concludes, and the story may go as well. See how it all ends, and what may happen. Yet, will it truely be an end?

* * *

Who We Are, The Hidden Meaning

Yumi:

Ulrich and I had been transported up nine stories, we had wondered why and the traveler had told us. We had then begun wondering what we were supposed to do now, but he told us to wait for a second. He had just now reappeared in front of us and was pointing one hand at either of us.

"This will just take a second." He said and a white beam of light appeared out of his hands.

Suddenly I felt my clothes grow just the slightest bit warmer and I could feel energy circulating around just outside of my body. I closed my eyes and got a picture of what was happening. The traveler was manipulating the fabric of my clothes at the atomic level, at least that was what it looked like. As I watched the fabric extended itself and changed into a different material all together. It grew into a much more elaborate dress and for some reason I felt as though I had seen it somewhere.

I felt the work coming to an end and I opened my eyes. When I saw the new dress that I was in I suddenly thought of an anime that I had seen many years ago when I still lived in Japan. I couldn't quite remember what it was called but it had to do with this one boy and five alien girls who had 'accidentally' met him… anyway the dress looked almost like the stile that two of them, who were princesses, had worn.

I looked over at Ulrich and nearly cracked up. I had been right; it was definitely similar to that stile. One of the only differences was that his hair wasn't much longer or braded… but the colors of his new costume were, how should I put this, different. There were greens, blues and whites mostly… It was a real ethnic look for him, and really out of this world…

"What? What is this? Why am I wearing this?" Ulrich asked.

"It is the 'costume', as Yumi so potently put it, that the other versions of you wore. Most of them look like one's from another universe, which an alien race wore. Nice universe, one amazing genius in it… anyway, it will help with the process, don't ask me why, it just will." The traveler told him.

"So I was right?" I asked.

"Yes, you were. You sure know your anime… in any case I need to finish. I will give you all instructions when I am done." He said as he disappeared. _And don't touch anything!_ He added through the telepathic method that he used.

I looked around to see what we could possibly touch. As far as I could see the room was empty. There was the circular wall and the floor, and that was about it. Not much to tamper with there. I began walking around to see if I could find anything to not touch and as I walked forward a light appeared in front of me. As I watched it became like Jeremie's computer screen, but without the computer behind it. I looked at it for a few seconds and suddenly realized that the 'mouse' was following where I looked. I had already opened a few windows and didn't even realize it.

"Yumi, he just said to not touch anything." Ulrich said startled at my blatant disregard for what I had been told. "What are you doing anyway?"

He came over and looked at the screen. It was translucent, meaning we could both see through it, and at first he didn't recognize what it was. When he finally did he made an 'oh' sound and watched as I continued to explore it. I wasn't sure why I kept going, it was as if I was drawn into it, almost as though I couldn't stop myself. I actually tried to look away and found I was just too interested to look elsewhere.

What the screen had 'led' me to was what almost looked like a video of some kind. As I watched I suddenly recognized what I was seeing. It appeared to be Ulrich, myself and the others. We were fighting in the new Lyoko against some monsters that looked different than the ones that we had fought today. As I watched the image became clearer and clearer and I suddenly found myself floating above the action, literally.


	27. Who We Are: The Hidden Meaning Part Two

Sorry to not have updated recently, but I'm on dial-up. Anyway, I'll leave the comments to a minimum.

* * *

Who We Are, The Hidden Meaning Continued

Yumi Again:

I was floating over a battle that appeared to be recorded at some point. I was watching my friends and myself fighting some monsters that I didn't recognize. It appeared that the battle had just started, and I really hadn't missed anything. We had just been ambushed coming into a field and the monsters had just begun attacking us.

I saw Ulrich; he looked older, even than he did now. He was wearing similar clothing as he had just been, but these were just slightly different. He was wearing a tunic, the tunic was mostly a light tan-ish white but it was lined with blue and green stripes. The sleeves were about three inches thicker than his wrists and thusly waved as he moved his hands. The collar of the tunic, which extended a little into his neck, was lined with gold and silver, a bar silver above the golden one. As I looked him over I realized that it wasn't really a tunic because it was over something, what I could see were slightly baggy pants that looked the same at the 'tunic'. The really odd thing was that there were things sticking off of it. Mostly cloth streamer like things, but there were some bead like things. Again, this was the style of the alien species that I had seen in the anime.

I looked over at myself and saw that I was wearing something similar, but it was more like a dress than Ulrich's, naturally. My 'dress' was fancy, but not in a way that looked uncomfortable, or even hard to move in. On the contrary, I seemed to be able to move in it quite well. It was mostly white, but it had a aqua green and a light red stripe running through and around it. And the other difference was that I had the bars switched. I also looked older than I had in this Lyoko.

I spotted Jeremie close by, he was dressed differently than Ulrich, and he had on more of a brown than a white. His cloths appeared to be more 'normal' than Ulrich's and mine, there wasn't much fancy about them, and they also appeared to be like work clothing. There also weren't any extras, and the bars around his neck were brass and silver. He was holding a book and what looked like a stave.

The next person that I spotted was Odd. He was again like a cat, but this time it was less of an outfit. His ears were like a cat's, and he had a tail, but other than that he had clothing more like Jeremie's than anything else. Though, they also looked more ragged than Jeremie's it was as if anyone who didn't look 'normal' was an outcast. His bars were double brass.

I kept looking and saw Aelita. Her clothing was completely different. She was not wearing a tunic like thing, but instead a fully fledged dress. It was not extremely large, and she was apparently able to move in it quite well, but it wasn't anything like what the rest of us were wearing. The colors were also off, it wasn't white at all, it had more of a dark blue to it. There was some brown in it, but only in a few areas. She also wasn't wearing the thin bars around her neck.

Looking at everyone took about ten seconds, and when I looked back at Ulrich he had his hands together kind of like the traveler did sometimes, but when he created the light it extended outward into a beam. The beam solidified and became a solid sward, not a samurai sward but a longer thicker sward. This one was very fancy and had jewels in it, it also had an aura of light around it.

I quickly looked over at myself and saw that I was also forming something. It was a ball that was pulsating with blue and green light. It was also spiraling and almost looked like a cloud. I suddenly broke it into two and shot one of them at one of the monsters.

The monster, which looked like a dog standing on its hind legs but hunched over. It was brownish white, and had very large claws. As the ball neared it the monster swung one of its claws and hit the ball. It exploded at the monster and nearly took off its claw. The monster looked surprised, but I was more so when the claw grew back.

I quickly looked over at Ulrich and saw that he was slashing through a similar monster, but this one was more of a spider with very bendable arms. The tentacle like arms were trying to grab at Ulrich and hold him still as a wasp like creature, which looked more like a wasp then the one's in the original Lyoko did, tried to sting him. Ulrich swung and cut off a few arms of the squid-like spider and the arms fell to the ground. Once on the ground they continued to move trying to do anything to him that they could.

I looked over at Jeremie and saw that he was holding the stave pointed at one of the monsters. It was a dog-like one similar to the one that I was fighting. As I watched the tip of the stave lit up and shot out an arrow of light that hit the monster square in the head. The monster reacted but didn't stop moving, at least not until it literally exploded into dust. Jeremie prepared another arrow and pointed it at another monster.

Aelita was doing a similar thing, but she was forming arrows out of thin air. She would pull back as though using a bow, a light would appear, and she would release it. The arrow would fly and, usually, hit its mark. The arrow, depending on the color, would either explode or stop the monster in a different way.

I looked for Odd and at first couldn't see him, but then I noticed a pile of monsters, the dog-like kind, moving on something. Suddenly I saw a few flashes of light and the monsters exploded outward as Odd came out having cut through them. He then ran to another one, his fingernails, or rather claws, extended.

I turned away just before he hit another one and looked back at myself. I was forming many balls of light and shooting them at various monsters. Again depending on the color the ball would either explode, burn, freeze, or something else. I was impressed with the level of power that I was showing.

I quickly looked over at Ulrich again, he was still fighting the squid-like spider but he had beaten most of it. He was now doing clean up and killing anything on the ground that still moved. He looked very preoccupied, and appeared to be saying something but I could not hear him.

I looked around the field, every one was finishing up the fight, and most of the monsters were dead, their bodies lying strewn along the ground. The only one of us who showed any sign of being in the battle was Ulrich who was covered in blood. He was walking over to me now, and I had a light blue ball in my hand.

Suddenly I noticed something moving in the near distance. It was a monster that I had not seen in the fight. It looked like a lizard with a two extra legs and wings. It had a black ball in its hand; I recognized the ball to be similar to the one's that I had been shooting at the monsters. As I watched, and to my utter horror, the lizard creature shot the ball directly at Ulrich.

I felt my insides turn. I was going to watch Ulrich die and there was nothing that I could do. This wasn't fare, this couldn't be happening. I couldn't just sit here and do nothing. I had to do something, I simply had to!

As I thought these things I felt my emotions swell up within me and as they did I felt myself grow heavier. Suddenly a ball of swirling darkness formed itself in front of me. I focused on the lizard monster and the ball shot out from me. As it passed by Ulrich it hit the other ball consuming it. The ball continued and hit the lizard and was absorbed into it. I watched to see what effect it would take, and as I did the lizard began to curl up in pain its eyes turning back. As it fell over it suddenly turned first to stone then to dust.

I felt relief flood over me. I had stopped the incident... but wait, how could I have stopped it unless... suddenly I felt the wind blowing against me. I looked around and realized that I had become real within the image. I was actually there now, and the others were looking at me.

* * *

There are only two more chapters left until the end. I'll see you all then and in the next one.


	28. Who We Are: The Hidden Meaning Part Thre...

Ok, here is a question for all of you. Would you prefer longer, better, more indebth chapters, or do you want more faster? I can do either or. I might be able to do both, but I want your oppinion.

* * *

Who We Are, The Hidden Meaning Continued

Still Yumi:

"There are two Yumi's?" Ulrich asked utterly confused.

"What?" I asked. "No, I, um…"

"She's a fake, she is one of them!" I heard someone yell and when I looked to see who it was I saw Sissi standing on top of the hill that the others had come from.

Sissi was wearing something different than the others. She was wearing more normal clothing, clothing that one would see from our universe. I was surprised to see this, because all the others were wearing such amazing clothing.

"I don't think she is one of them." Odd said from next to me. I hadn't even noticed him move. "She doesn't smell like a metamorphic."

"So, can't they mask their smell?" Sissi asked.

"No, only their image. That's why Xanadu tried to kill off my race."

"Well, if she isn't a metamorphic then what is she?" Jeremie asked. "There can't be two Yumi's can there?"

They all looked at each other for a moment then they looked at me. Ulrich walked up to me and looked me in the eyes, he placed his face so close to mine that our noses nearly touched. I could feel my face begin to get warm as the blood rushed into my cheeks; I knew that I was blushing. Ulrich was so hansom as an adult I was stunned by it. Suddenly Ulrich looked away, at the other Yumi. He smiled slightly and then turned back to me.

"Yumi, she is you, at least a younger version of you." Ulrich said smiling. "And I should know, we have known each other for so long."

"But how is this possible. How can there be two of me?" The other me asked. "I know that this isn't my younger self, I would remember it."

"That is because she isn't you, not exactly." Said a voice. "Remember what I told you all about different universes?"

I turned to look at the speaker. It was a woman. She looked familiar somehow, something about her I had seen somewhere before. I couldn't quite place it, but I did recognize the clothing. It was very much like the traveler's.

"Yes, we remember Ginda." Jeremie said. "So are you telling me that this is a Yumi from another universe?"

"Exactly, and if I know Gwydion he will be here in a few minutes to take her back... I just wonder when he will be coming from."

"Many years in the future, Ginda." I heard the familiar voice say. "And she is in trouble. I told you not to touch anything, yet, not only do you look for something to touch, but when you find something you not only touch it but you play with it."

"I didn't _touch_ anything. All I did was look at it." I said aggravated. "And why are you so angry? I saved someone's life."

The traveler sighed. "Didn't you ever thing that perhaps he was supposed to die? What if his sacrifice would have ended the war? What if now all of his friends are going to die?"

"That can't happen. You told us what happened here... I think." I replied.

"No I didn't. All I told you was what your person in this universe was like. I didn't tell you anything about the content, just the characters."

He walked over to me and looked directly into my face. He then turned to the other in the field. "I am sorry about that, and I am sorry that we had to interfere. Ulrich would not have died, and yet this was exactly how it happened. We will take our leave now." He then looked directly back at me and said, "Did you know that your body is stuck with out a mind or soul in your universe. Do you have any idea how worried Ulrich is?"

I was about to answer but I suddenly found myself spinning into darkness. I couldn't see, hear or feel anything. There wasn't anything to breathe, and I felt as though I were suffocating. I couldn't move at all and I began to panic.

* * *

So tell me whether you want more faster or better slower. I am already working on some things, but I would like to know the stile that you all would prefer. And not to be breaf but I am on dialup after all. Tell me what you think.


	29. The Towers Concludes

After twenty eight chapters the conclusion is finally here, but this is not the end, not at all. The end is yet to come. My last nearly ready chapter is coming soon. I just need to tweak it a little. See what will happen to the children next...

* * *

The Towers Concludes

Ulrich:

As I watched the thing that Yumi was looking at I suddenly realized what it was. I could suddenly see the things within it and see what Yumi was doing. Even though it still wasn't clear to me the understanding of what was there made it a lot more visible. Suddenly a small window opened up and I saw a very fuzzy video on it. I couldn't see what the video was but Yumi seemed to understand it.

I looked over at her and asked, "What is it?" and waited for her to respond. When she didn't I tired again, "Yumi, what are you watching." When I still didn't get a response I began to panic.

I walked up to her and touched her shoulder. She didn't respond. I gently shook her and she still didn't move. I shook a little harder and she suddenly fell over her eyes still open. Now I was really panicking. I hoped that the thing hadn't killed her, I didn't know what I would do if Yumi died. I had to do something; I had to get help, but how? The traveler had transported us up here, so there was no way of... the traveler.

"Hey, traveler! Traveler!" I yelled and waited. Nothing happened. I tried to remember what he had said his name was and suddenly it came to me. "Gwydion! Ga-wi-de-on!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Suddenly he appeared in front of Yumi and me. He took one look and sighed. "Why do they always do that..." he asked to himself then he disappeared. A few seconds later he reappeared.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I found her soul and brought it back. She shouldn't have messed with these magical items. Somehow she managed to bring herself a couple million years into the past when I was at the other universe, the one that this Lyoko has been remodeled after."

"If you brought her back then why isn't she moving yet?" I asked worried.

"Because she is lost within her own body right now. Being ripped from one body to another can have that effect on a person. Once she finds her way out into the light, so to speak, she will be fine." He told me. "It figures, we could have done away with Xanadu here and now, but someone just had to go and kill themselves..."

Suddenly Yumi started moving; she took a deep gasping breath and began coughing. Once she was done she got up and glared at the traveler. She walked over to him and looked him directly in the eye, yet his expression didn't change from disinterest.

"You have some nerve doing something like that to me." She said nearly yelling.

"And you have some nerve tampering with things that you don't understand, young lady. You literally killed yourself, and you didn't even realize it. If I hadn't been here to rip you back none of your friends would have known what happened." He paused and looked at me. "Would you really do that to him?" he asked. Then his voice changed, _All__ of you need to know that this universe and the one that it is modeled after are apparently connected. Don't touch anything you don't understand, unless you have an instant death wish, like Yumi here._

"Oh, Gwydion, you don't have to be so mean." Said a female voice. "They are just children after all."

The traveler whipped around apparently surprised. When he saw the woman standing a few feet behind him I swear his jaw dropped. I didn't know who this woman was but I was beginning to like her. She seemed nicer than the traveler did, and yet, strangely familiar as well.

"Well, Ginda, I thought you were visiting friends in Aricitopia." The traveler said.

"I was, but the emperor thought you might be up to something. Well, he thought I should come and make my appearance. And you know what they say, don't argue with an Aricitic, especially not one with human DNA."

"Tch, you know that he would never do anything to you... in any case I am busy, if you really want to join me then fine, but _join_ me, don't work against me." The traveler retorted. "In any case, we should deactivate this tower before the effect does to much to _their_ world."

"All right, I'll be quiet for now, but as a fellow traveler, and... well you know, I reserve the right to sight when you need to stop something."

"Agreed." The traveler stated. "Now, I will give the instructions."

_Everyone,_ he said as he suddenly disappeared. _There will be a screen appearing in front of you. You need to place your hand on it palm down. After you do it will state your name, and I want you to say the text that will appear in a screen above it._

As he finished speaking the window opened. It was much like the one that Yumi had opened earlier by accident, but I could see it much more clearly. I did as he had said and then began reading the text.

"Here we are, going far, to save all that we love…"

Then Yumi began. "If we give what we've got we will make it though..."

As Yumi's voice trailed off I heard Aelita's emanate through the tower, "Here we are like a star shining bright on your world... Today... Make evil go away."

As she finished the last line I heard a tremor go through the tower. No, it was more like felt, I felt the tower shake. It was an interesting emotion, almost as if a heavy burden had been lifted. I literally saw the darkness lifted from the tower itself.

Just when I thought it was finished I heard Jeremie start in, "Lyoko we'll reset it all. Lyoko be there when you call."

As his voice faded I heard Odd's, "Lyoko, We will stand real tall. Lyoko stronger after all."

"Return to the past now..." rang Jeremie's voice just as Sissi began to speak.

"Return to what once was..."

A light appeared far below us and it expanded upward. As it went I suddenly was able to see all the other towers. They were doing the same; the light was expanding from below them and outwards until they reached the top. There they all combined to form one giant light that illuminated everything. I blinked and found myself sitting up in bed.

* * *

Now, nearly all of you have complained at least once about my cliff hangers... But that just keeps you interested. There is one more premade chapter left. After I tweak 'the end', I will be empty... But... Well, you will all just have to see.


	30. An Ending

"For every beginning there is an end;  
This one just happens to be now." The First from 'The End'

Well, this most certainly is abrupt but for every good beginning there must always be a good end. My beginning wasn't as perfect as it should have been, so neither shall my end... Just kidding. This 'End' has been well though up, believe me I rewrote it three times... Lets just see how it all ends shall we?

* * *

Sissi:

As I opened my eyes and looked around I suddenly realized that I was in my bed. I wondered what had happened, one moment I was standing in a tower in the mysterious place called Lyoko the next I had woken up. Could it all have been a dream just like all the other ones that I had had? No, this was far too real for it to be a dream.

I got out of bed and got dressed. I made my face and went to breakfast. Once I was in the cafeteria I saw the others. From the way they were acting I couldn't tell anything, and I didn't want to cause a scene if I was wrong. I sat down with Nicolas and Herb and began eating.

"Why do Ulrich and his friends keep glancing over here?" Herb asked nearly as soon as I began eating.

I looked up but they had turned away. I did notice that they seemed to be being more secretive suddenly. Maybe I was right and everything that I had dreamt was real. There was only one way to find out and that would be to talk to them again. I would do it just as I remembered doing it in the first place.

I continued eating but kept an eye on the others to see if they looked at me again. As I ate Nicolas and Herb began talking at me about things that I didn't really find interesting. I kept up with the conversation just enough to make them think that I was listening.

When the bell rang and we had to go to class I walked a respectable distance behind the others. I knew that they knew that I was following them and when Yumi broke off from them to go to her class she gave me a look. It wasn't an unfriendly look, more of a questioning look. I gave her the same and she seemed to nod walking on as if nothing had happened.

We all sat in our normal seats and waited for the teacher to take attendance. It was science and Mrs. Hertz barely looked up as she began checking off our names. She continued through all of us and suddenly noticed something in her book. She looked up with a confused look on her face.

"Aelita, Lyoko? Do we have a new student or is someone playing a practical joke today?"

I saw the others jump and throw nervous glances at each other. They began looking around the room as did I but none of us saw the pink haired girl. The teacher looked as well and when no one responded she grunted and made a note.

"New students shouldn't be late on their first day…" she said to herself.

Class began but the four of us weren't able to pay much attention. I now knew that we had to meet as soon as we could. Class went slowly, even slower than it usually did, but when it finally ended and we filed out of the room Ulrich bumped into me. He quickly made a snide remark but I felt something in my hand. When he had passed I looked and found a balled up paper. The paper read: Meet us during lunch at the factory.

As soon as lunch came I quickly made my way to the factory. I now knew the tunnel that the others used to get there and I found them waiting for me. They all greeted me and we began on our way to the mysterious factory. I saw that they were each prepared with some form of transportation, mostly skateboards. And after Yumi nodded Ulrich offered me a ride. I agreed and we quickly found ourselves on our way.

Once at the factory we climbed up the latter to the bridge and each one of us got out. I was the last one out and when I pulled myself up and saw their faces I knew that something was wrong. Each one of them looked sick and Jeremie had tears in his eyes. I slowly turned around and found myself face to face with the horrible truth: the factory was gone. But it was not only gone, it was completely destroyed. All that remained of it was the memory, not even the edge of the bridge had survived. It was almost as if it had never existed at all.

I heard a thud behind me and noticed that Yumi had fallen to the ground. Ulrich bent down to help her up and I felt a slight burn of jealousy but I ignored it. Odd looked as though he were about to throw up and Jeremie was fully crying now. I wondered how this could have happened and I realized that it could have only been done by the traveler. He was the only one who could have done it, and that made him evil.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted him…" Ulrich said beating himself up.

"How were we to know?" Odd asked. "He seemed like a good person."

"I knew… I knew from the first time I saw him. I just wish I had done something about it."

"No…" Yumi said. "I don't think so. He really didn't seem evil to me, but if he didn't do it then who…"

"X.A.N.A." Jeremie said. "He must have wanted to get rid of everything."

"But would X.A.N.A. really destroy himself?" Ulrich asked.

"No. But then what?" Odd replied.

"Well, we won't find our answers here." I said. "We should head back to the school and get our lunch."

We started back and made it to school with time to eat, but we ate in silence. No one dared to speak; no one had anything to say. Lyoko was gone, the adventure over. I had not gotten much time to become part of it but I already felt the effects of it pouring over me. The sorrow of loosing a friend, Aelita, and the knowledge that nothing like it would ever happen again. It seemed that everything had gone back to the way it had been before any of us had known about Lyoko. Everything was _normal_…

The End

* * *

Endings sometimes are points for beginnings. This one starts something new. This is not the true end, it never was and never will be. Coming up is a new world all together. I simply hope you will all like it as much as you have everything else. 

Master Aricitic; Gwydion D. C. Laubach


	31. A New World: Introduction

How would you like to live out every day in fear that something bad is going to happen, knowing that you and your friends are the only ones who can stop it? For Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie this was daily life. But when they met a mysterious man and went on one last adventure their lives were changed forever _again_. Now they live in a normal world with no deadly virus trying to kill them every day. But, how long will the peace last?

* * *

A New World

Introduction

Odd:

Lyoko was gone, or at least the factory was. No one knew what had come of Lyoko itself since the only way for us to connect to it was through the factory. And none of us knew what had happened to Aelita; she was not on earth with us and because we couldn't reach Lyoko we had no way of seeing if she was still there.

Every one seemed to blame the traveler; that is every one but Yumi and Jeremie. They kept insisting that he didn't seem like the kind of person to take everything from us. We all disagreed about what happened, and no one seemed to be able to let it go. It seemed as though Jeremie had become distant and depressed but he tried not to show it. Still every now and then he would get a look in his eyes, almost as though he were looking at something far off…

Yumi was a similar way, but she had Ulrich to be with. Now that X.A.N.A. was supposedly gone they had all the time in the world to be together. Sissi still seemed jealous but she kept her distance from that argument for a while. She knew that we were all going through a hard time right now and she knew not to interfere. On the other hand she had suddenly become a lot nicer to Nicolas and Herb.

I on the other hand was dealing with this as I did with everything else. I tried to joke it away. My natural good humor and outgoing personality kept me perked up even as the others seemed to be depressed and tired. I kept trying to lighten the moment by making a joke and it sometimes worked, but other times it failed miserably.

Slowly, it seemed, life began to get back to normal. Normal as in what it was before the others had known about Lyoko, and way before either Sissi or I had. The only difference was that Yumi and Ulrich began to 'date'. I also began to look for Sam once again. And this time I began to make some progress. I found her name in the phone book and managed to get an answering machine, but that was as far as I have gotten so far.

We began to focus on school and typical teenager troubles. It was actually nice to be able to relax for a while. With out the constant worry that X.A.N.A. would try to destroy the world we could finally focus on other things. My grades dramatically improved because I was studying with Jeremie. The others also began studying and getting help on things that they hadn't before.

But the real thing that finalized it was when Ulrich suddenly forgot what Lyoko was. Yumi had suddenly brought it up and Ulrich asked what it was. Of course when that happened everyone paused to think for a second then we all remembered and got very quiet. It felt as though none of us talked again for the rest of that day…

* * *

For every hero there is a villain, with out the villain the hero isn't a hero and the story dies. There has to be something to keep an audiences attention... Don't worry, I will manage.

* * *

Ulrich is going to take Yumi to a dance, but when he gets there he suddenly finds himself surrounded by events that haven't happened yet. What does this mean, and what is he being told? Find out in the next chapter: Things to Come: A Dream? 


	32. Things To Come: A Dream

To go through an event only to find out later that it didn't really happen, or worse yet, to have done an event but to never remember it. Neither idea is very nice, and neither idea is what the children choose. Their minds fight for the knowledge that they hold even though their bodies see differently.

* * *

Ulrich: 

It was a Saturday and sometime around noon. I was standing in front of Yumi's house holding a rose in one hand and waiting. I had just rung the doorbell and was waiting for someone to answer it. The seasons had changed and it was beginning to become fall. The leaves were changing colors and some had already fallen.

The door opened and Yumi's mother looked at me. She smiled and allowed me inside. She brought me to wait in the living room and then left to get Yumi. I sat down on the couch and waited. I saw Yumi's father walk back and forth a few times through the doors. I felt nervous, but it wasn't burning into me as it had the first time I had come over and met her parents.

Yumi appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a full black dress, far different from what she had worn to the prom. It hung around her with an air of beauty and serenity. She really did look better in black than white; I don't think the effect would have been nearly as radiant. She walked over to me and I stood up. We smiled at each other and said a quick good bye to her parents. We then made our way to the school.

The trip was short, shorter than I had remembered running when we had first had the prom. We made it there in no time and others were just arriving. I could see Sissi with Herb, and other couples standing around getting ready for it to start. I suddenly saw Odd and Sam; they were both dressed up and looking happy. As I glanced around the room Jeremie walked into view, and following him was Aelita. She looked nervous and was blushing slightly, but she was wearing the dress that Yumi had picked out for her.

The six of us met together around the center, Sissi and Herb; Odd and Sam; Jeremie and Aelita, and of course Yumi and myself. We greeted each other and smiled, then just as we were about to start talking about something random the headmaster spoke over the speaker.

"I know that you are all anxious to get on with the festivities but first we have ten people that we have welcomed here to speak with us. I hope that you will all give them as much respect now as you have in the past. Now I give you the traveler."

He handed over the microphone to the traveler and the traveler stepped up in front of us. He was wearing a suit, as though he were at a business meeting or participating in this dance. When I saw him I felt happy, almost as though everything had gone right and it was all truly over.

When he spoke it was in a voice that I had never heard him use before yet it sounded as familiar as if I had known it all my life. The room grew quiet very quickly as though silence had flooded the room. Everyone turned their full attention to him, and only then did I notice that there were news cameras in the room.

"As you all know a long and hard battle has just been won recently. The six children and I had fought epically and won. The evil that had once threatened your world and many others is now no more, and we finally have peace once again. I would like to thank those who helped in defeating this great evil and would like to mourn those who were lost during the struggle... On that note I will hand you over to Ginda."

He handed the microphone over to Ginda, who was wearing as much white as he was black. Together they were almost like a yin-yang. She stood up to the microphone and began to speak, creating almost the same effect as the traveler had. Her voice rang out almost as though she were singing.

"As you all know we are able to bring back the dead, yet we are only allowed to do so during certain times. The time has come and we will gladly bring back any person or creature that had died during the fight against Xanadu." As she said this she raised both arms levitating the microphone in front of her. A bright light appeared around here and when I looked over at the traveler I saw a similar thing. They both turned to face one another and their hands met. Suddenly the light changed and exploded outward illuminating everything.

Little white orbs began appearing around the room with faint outlines of people. As the light emanated around them the images began to solidify. Their bodies began to mold themselves out of thin air and they appeared in the flesh once again. Some people ran to them and gave them hugs while others calmly walked over to them.

_You know, Ulrich, one is not allowed to know too much of ones future or it will not happen..._ said a voice around me. _You should wake up before you find out to much more. Besides, you really do have a date with Yumi today._

I suddenly bolted up in my bed wide awake. The dream began slipping out of my mind taking everything I had seen with it. I looked around slightly confused and then remembered what day it was. I quickly got out of bed and got dressed.

* * *

Now Ulrich and Yumi are able to go on a date together, truly, but they can't live a completely normal life if they still know about Lyoko. Two old friends come back and they find out something new about what is going on around them. 


	33. The Next Change

Memory is a delicate thing, and any memory can be torn from someone easily. Once lost memories can sometimes come back or they can stay forever away from their creator. But memory is something that wants to come back and can only be eliminated completely by strong magic or extremely bad chance.

* * *

Yumi: 

I was standing waiting in the place that Ulrich and I usually met. It was at the main gate out of the school. He was late, we had planned to meet at ten o' clock sharp and it was already nine minutes after. Ulrich was never late for our dates and I couldn't understand why he was late now. We had been planning this for a week now and I knew that he knew the time we were to meet.

Suddenly I saw him running to meet me. He seemed out of breath and looked frustrated. As he got closer I noticed that his cloths were a little off, as though he had quickly thrown them on. When he reached me he was out of breath and paused to catch it.

"What's the matter?" I asked worried.

"I... over... slept..." he said gasping. "Very... strange... dream..."

"What was the dream about?" I was getting interested; he didn't normally talk about his dreams.

"Don't... know... I... forgot..." he gasped. "As soon... as I... woke up..."

"Oh," I said disappointed. "So, shall we?"

We began walking to the park. Our date was going to be a nice day together, mostly at the park, but with lunch at a café. We had it perfectly planned and knew what we would be doing all day. We had also made sure that it wouldn't rain today; the weather channel had said sunny all day. As we walked Ulrich caught his breath and stopped breathing hard.

I began moving my hand over a little, just enough so that our hands touched. As my hand brushed against his he jumped slightly, but then he placed his hand around mine and we continued to walk holding hands. I smiled inside; ever since that day, the day we met the traveler, I knew that he loved me. With that knowledge we decided to show our affection toward each other more openly.

We were almost at the park now. It should taken been a longer walk, but it seemed like less time. The park was big, about two thousand acres. We had arrived at it from the south, so we were closer to the small lake that was in it. That was where we were headed. We had planned a relaxing day at the small lake and we had wanted a picnic but neither of us could figure out how to do so.

As we entered the park we began walking through some of the trees. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and there were only a few clouds in the sky. The temperature was a perfect seventy eight and there was no humidity. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It seemed as though it couldn't get any better, but then I was with Ulrich so it always could.

We neared the pond, it wasn't really a lake but a large pond, and sat on a bench. There were other people in the park, mostly children with their parents. The children were playing, together or alone, and seemed to be having a good time. I knew now that X.A.N.A. was gone we could live in peace and we would never have to worry about anything like that again.

_No... forget, stop worrying about Lyoko. You are safe. Forget for now. You are not needed..._

"What?" I asked Ulrich.

"Hm, I didn't say anything." He replied.

_Forget and I will return to you all those who are missing. Relax, allow yourselves to forget._

"Don't you hear that?" I asked.

"The wind?" Ulrich asked confused.

"No, it sounded like some guy talking about something called Lyoko." I said.

"Lyoko? What? Yumi are you feeling all right?" he asked me with a worried look on his face.

"Now that you mention it, I am feeling a little tired..." I replied yawning.

"Yeah, now that you say it so am I." he agreed yawning as well.

_Children of Lyoko forget, for now, and I will allow you to live as normal children. Children of Lyoko forget about Lyoko. Forget and sleep..._

I suddenly found myself unable to keep my eyes open. I was feeling really tired as though I had been kept awake all last night. I knew that I couldn't keep conscious for much longer and...

When I woke up I found Ulrich lying next to me. We were still in the park, but I couldn't understand why I had fallen asleep. It must have been the warmth from the sun mixed with the serenity of the day. I looked over at Odd and Sam; they had fallen asleep as well. So had Jeremie and Aelita. It seemed as though we had all fallen asleep together. Well that wasn't good, we had all gone out together to spend time with our significant other… and had slept through most of it.

The others were getting up now; whipping the sleep from their eyes. They looked around confused, but they seemed to feel the same way that I did. It was like a spell had been cast over us putting us to sleep, but that was unrealistic. It was more likely that we simply hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before.

"That was odd," said Odd grinning. "Now I won't be able to sleep during class."

We all laughed. It was true, not that it happen too often… but hey, a nap during a class can really boost moral. Just as long as the teachers didn't notice.

"For some reason that sleeping made me hungry." Aelita said and checked her watch. "Oh, it's noon. I guess that's why."

"Where shall we eat?" Sam asked.

"There is a Japanese café that opened up recently." Jeremie said. "I heard about it on the internet. It is supposed to be really good."

"I didn't know that the Japanese made cafés." Ulrich said sounding confused.

Everyone turned to look at me. I stared dumbly back and then realized why they were looking at me. "How should I know? I was only born in Japan, I don't live there."

"Oh, come on Yumi, we all know that you are the only one of us that knows anything about Japanese culture." Odd said.

"What about Aelita?" I asked defensively.

"Two generations ago..." She replied. "I know less about Japan than you do."

"Well, I don't know." I said. "It could be a café, or it could be a restaurant. Either way, let's go check it out."

The restaurant was close by, only a few blocks. The name of it was Kojo, and it had a real Japanese appeal. The entire building looked brand new, and it was designed just like a Japanese building. When we entered it we saw low tables and cushions for chairs. There was also a stone garden and a fake waterfall. I could smell fish and chicken in the air, and my mouth began to water. Looking around at the others I saw similar reactions to mine. They all seemed to like this place, and they all looked hungry.

A Japanese woman walked up to us and asked us if we were a group; she had a wonderful Japanese accent. We said yes and she took us to a table. After we sat down she gave us a menu and asked us what we wanted to drink. For once we mostly ordered water and she left to allow us to decide on our orders and get our drinks.

The menu was written in both authentic Japanese and French. There were pictorials around it that looked Japanese. It just really fit the atmosphere. I looked up to see how the others were reacting and got a few questions almost instantly.

"So, what's good?" Odd asked. "I'm starved and ready to try nearly anything."

"So am I." Ulrich agreed. "I am feeling adventuress."

"I've always wanted to try sushi." Jeremie said thoughtfully. "What do you think?"

"You know that sushi is raw fish, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but I have always wanted to try it." Jeremie replied defensively.

"I haven't really ever had it either." Aelita agreed.

"Well, I think sushi is a great idea." I said thankful for an easy way out.

We all looked at the menu under sushi. There were many different types and each one of us chose a different one. When the lady came back with our waters we made our order. She walked away with our orders and we began to talk casually.

"This place is nice." Jeremie said. "It is peaceful without being to quiet."

"Aren't all Japanese restaurants like that?" Sam asked suddenly.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Most of Japan is like that..." Odd said. "Quiet yet there."

"Hey." Aelita said beating me to it. "Japan has a sense of beauty to match the serenity."

"And we actually aren't all quiet." I replied with a small grin.

"But, Aelita, I thought you weren't born in Japan."

There was a brief pause and everyone looked at Aelita. She blushed slightly, and looked down at the table. "I'm wasn't." she responded.

"Where were you born anyway?" Sam asked.

"I... Um..." she said and trailed off.

There was silence among the group. We all felt uncomfortable. Aelita didn't usually talk about where she was from. She had been abandoned as a young child and left alone in another country. Someone had eventually found her and brought her to France with them. She now lived with a foster family, but she still felt alone.

"Hey, did you hear about that accident at Kaidac Junior High school?" I heard someone say.

"You mean the school that is three schools in one?" another man asked.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"No, what happened."

"Apparently a science teacher was working late in the schools lab when she claims that she was attacked by something. The lab was nearly destroyed and she was injured, not fatally but badly enough. She was really spooked; I heard that all they could get her to say was a description of some green monster and a dark shadow of something…"

"Oh, I wonder why they didn't tell me." Said the second man.

"Why would they have?"

"Because I am the one who they got to replace her while she is recovering."

I looked over at the two. The first man was in his thirties but the second was much older. He looked like he could be in his nineties. He had long white hair and a long white beard. He was also wearing half moon glasses. I got an impression that he was a nice man, but I don't know where I was getting it from.

When I turned back I saw that everyone else was looking over at the two as well. They all looked as shocked as I felt. None of us had been told about this, and that was probably to keep us calm. If the truth got out in the school their might be a panic, but I didn't know how they would explain the lab.

Our food arrived and we ate in silence. None of us spoke until we got back to the school. It wasn't like us to be so quiet, but on the other hand these events weren't quite as normal either. We decided to keep this quiet for now and let the school deal with it; it would be strange if some students started snooping around.

* * *

The new teacher enters the school and begins a class. He seems nice but is there really more there, or is this just a normal person who has nothing to do with the true battle with X.A.N.A.? The children may not remember Lyoko now but they still suspect something...


	34. Teacher

Just a note: The story that I made a precursor to in earlier chapters is actually being written. I can not give an exact date on when it will be posted, but "The Lyoko Holy Lands" is in the works and will be posted eventually.  
It will be completely original, and the only resemblance to the original Code: Lyoko will be the names and concept of two universes. There will also be some similarities in the characters (duh) but that should be fine...

* * *

The Teacher is not always the master. A teacher can know less about a subject and still teach it as well as if they had mastered it. This depends on the skill level of the teacher in teaching not on the skill level in the subject. And though this may not always be true it still can be.

* * *

Jeremie: 

One strange occurrence does not make a pattern, but for some reason I felt the need to dig deeper into this. Before I went to bed I went online; I wanted to see if anything strange was in the news. If the media wasn't saying anything about it then it was either really big news or nothing to worry about. That would all depend on how they decided to not say anything.

I managed to find something, but I wasn't sure if it was a hoax or not. It was saying that some people had been seeing strange events where something impossible would happen for an instant but then it would be gone. There would be no physical evidence of the event ever occurring, but the person would still remember. Usually it only happened to one or two people but there was one instance where thirty people swear that they all had seen the same thing.

I pondered this new information for a moment. It could be that someone was trying to cover up something, but what could change physical reality enough to eliminate all evidence of something having happened? I couldn't think of anything so I decided to go to bed and talk with the others tomorrow. Maybe we would have better luck together.

I was in a large open space. It was not a field or anything but instead buildings had been leveled all around us. I could see the rubble all across the ground. Around me I saw my friends Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Sam but there were three other people there as well. One of them was Sissi and the other two were a man and a woman. They looked almost exactly like one another, for some reason or another, just a few features difference.

I looked further ahead to see what we were all looking at and was horrified. The _thing_ that was looking back at me was massive. It must have been thirty stories tall; it looked like a cross between a dog and a human but with more dog than human. Its fur color was a golden green and dark clouds of something were swirling around it. I felt anger and hatred against the thing and felt as though it were the most evil hateful thing alive. I knew then that we were all fighting against the monster and that we had to win, at all costs.

Suddenly it lifted one of its arms and a black cloud of something like smoke came flying out at us. The smoke shot in all directions around us just before it hit us and I realized that we were being protected by some kind of barrier. But when the smoke went into the ground wires and other electronic things lifted up and began attacking us from all sides.

I thought we were done for but then a sward materialized in Ulrich's hand. He began fighting against the metal monsters that were now attacking us. I looked around and saw that Odd was shooting something from his hands and hitting the monsters with explosive results. Yumi was holding her head and things were lifting off the ground and flying at the monsters. The others were also fighting in their own ways as well.

I looked around helplessly at my friends and the two strangers. It seemed that I was of no use. I could not do any of the things that they were doing, and the strangers looked as though all they could manage to do was stand. I felt completely useless, until I suddenly realized something. There were these words that we had been using, I could hear them clearly as though they were being spoken to me. I finally knew what they meant, what they were for.

I began saying the words but could not hear myself speak. Suddenly the others looked at me and I saw the understanding flood into them. They began singing with me and we all turned to the monster. It almost looked frightened as we continued the chant. I could see the life draining from it...

_Jeremie, you shouldn't look too deeply into your future. One may not know what one will do or one will not do it. Every person who has seen exactly what they would have done to deal with something has ended up dying as a result. They always manage to mess something up... now, wake up and forget what you have seen._

I woke up. I felt completely refreshed, as though I had gotten the best sleep of my life. I couldn't remember what the dream was that I had just had, which was strange because I normally remember the dreams very clearly and log them on my computer. I had made such a habit of it that I actually opened the word processing program that I normally used and opened the file.

I looked blankly at the empty space and tried to remember the dream, but my mind was a blank and I couldn't remember anything. As I thought about it I couldn't even remember what I had been doing the night before. This was very strange because my memory was nearly perfect.

I wrote 'Can't remember' and got dressed. I went to breakfast and saw my friends. When I sat down with them and began eating my food I suddenly realized that they were looking concerned at me. I couldn't understand why, it wasn't as though anything was wrong...

"Jeremie, are you feeling ok?" Aelita asked; by her voice I knew that there must be something wrong.

"I'm fine. What are you all so worried about?" I asked.

"Well, normally you are the first one up and waiting for the rest of us." Ulrich said. "But today you almost missed breakfast."

"That's impossible," I said with a nervous laugh, but then I looked down at my watch. "What, this can't be. It can't be this late already."

It was, and I only had ten minutes left for breakfast. Normally I was up and ready with an hour and a half. Our breakfast was forty five minutes long, and that had to mean that I had been asleep an hour and twenty minutes longer than normally. This just didn't make sense; I never slept in.

"Well, I feel fine." I said. "The only thing that was really off this mourning was that I couldn't remember my dream."

The others looked at me blankly and I remembered that this was something I hadn't told them. I blushed and turned away nearly missing my mouth with the fork. I had just told them one of my deepest secrets. I just wouldn't mention it again...

I ate in silence until I was done and we got up to leave. When we went outside Sissi walked up to us. She looked annoyed and almost hurt. None of us knew why, we hadn't done anything to her recently.

"Why are you guys being so mean to me?" She asked. "What did I do?"

"How are we being mean to you?" Ulrich asked obviously confused.

"You aren't talking to me anymore. You are acting as if what happened in Lyoko never happened." She said.

We stared at her blankly. None of us knew what she was talking about. Unless one of the others knew about this 'Lyoko' they were all confused as I was.

"Don't you remember, three months ago?" Sissi asked. Suddenly she noticed Aelita. "Hey, when did you get back to earth?"

"Ok, now is that really necessary?" I asked annoyed.

"What? But..." she trailed off as a gentle breeze began to blow across the courtyard. "Oh, really? So that's what happened? Well why can I remember? Why should I? What about your part? ... Ok, fine." She said to the air and walked away.

"Do any of you know what that was about?" Odd asked.

"Nope, not a clue." Ulrich said.

"I'm just as confused as the rest of you." Yumi agreed.

The bell rang and we said goodbye to Yumi as she ran off to her class. We walked the rest of the way to ours. As we entered the class we instantly noticed that the new teacher was there. He was standing in front of the class hunched over slightly looking at the students almost with a sense of pride.

The man was somewhat tall, taller than most elderly people; he appeared to be nearly six feet tall. His face was warm and he was smiling a soft smile. He had extremely long white hair and a nearly equally long beard. His skin was surprisingly youthful for his apparent age; he only had a few wrinkles.

"Well, now that I see that everyone is here I can start class." He said in a warm voice, almost a chuckle. "Please forgive me; it has been a while since I last taught a class. If I make a mistake feel free to tell me immediately, I do ask that you raise your hands though."

He turned to the blackboard and began writing down a very large and long equation followed by some notes. The equation appeared to be something that we had not yet done, nor did I think that we would be doing it any time soon. The title of the notes was genetic engineering.

I raised my hand.

"Yes, Jeremie." The teacher asked before he even turned around.

I was shocked, not only had he not even looked to see that my hand was raised but he also knew my name already. This was something that I had not anticipated.

"Sir, the equation you have written on the board is a collage level equation." I said.

"Oh," he said, almost disappointed. "Sorry, I must have forgotten where I was for a second. I have taught at a college many times before so I thought... and by the way, my name is professor Giis."

He erased what he had on the board and turned around. He looked at the class with a warm smile. "Can any of you tell me where we were?"

Sissi raised her hand just before I did. "We were just finishing up with nano-technology and we hadn't started a new unit yet."

"Oh, but I thought this was a junior high class... well, if that's the case, what would you all like to learn?"

I heard a gasp rush through the room. I doubt that anyone had ever expected a teacher to ask us something like that. Quickly I raised my hand.

"Yes, Jeremie?"

"Didn't Ms. Hertz give you any notes?" I asked.

"No... she left somewhat, um, abruptly, and was unable to prepare anything for the school to give to a substitute. Because of this I don't know what she had intended on having you do next. So, what do you want to learn? If you need to you can discuss it, but we have to have a new unit."

The other students turned to face one another and began talking. I got up and walked over to my friends. This was very strange, the story we had heard yesterday might have even been true.

"Jeremie, you don't think?" Ulrich said as I walked up to them.

"I don't know yet. Something strange is going on, but we have no way of really knowing what."

"I agree," Aelita said as she stepped up next to me. "The story isn't very likely, but things seem to be leading to it being the truth."

"What," Odd said surprised. "You actually believe something that crazy?"

"Well… stranger things have happened." Came Sissi's voice. She had walked over to talk with us. "And I'm not exactly sure what is going on but I would believe anything right now."

We looked at her somewhat confused. I for one didn't know what she was talking about. First she came up to us and began talking about something called 'Lyoko' and now this. It was almost as though something was missing from my memory but Sissi still knew what it was.

"I'll be right back, I need to go talk to the teacher." She said and walked off.

"There is one way that we can figure this out," I said. "We could visit the lab that this all was supposed to take place."

"Yeah, I agree." Ulrich said. "That would be the best thing to do."

"Only if we don't get caught." Odd said. "I don't know, it might be fun, but after that stunt that we pulled three days ago it might just be too much..."

"Well, they won't expel us just for looking." Aelita said. "Anyway, I think we should do it."

So it was settled. We would talk to Yumi about it and then we would check the lab. If we noticed something wrong, something to suggest that this story was true. The only question then would be what to do about it. And to answer the question we would have to get there.

* * *

The children enter the locked room and find something... Interesting. They are forced into a fight without any knowledge of what they can do, or even who they are up against. If the children can hold their own they may make it out alive, otherwise... 


	35. The Room

**Death beacons** _you... Death becomes you... Evil awaits you on the other side of that door. Tread carefully and you may survive, otherwise you will fall as quickly as you entered. Only memory can save you now, and thus you have no hope. A single simple song is all it would take, but you have nothing... I shall finally have my revenge, and all shall suffer._

* * *

**One world** _meets the other, both worlds collide. They enter one another. They share together. Fairness and kindness shall make everything true. Strength shall be ours. Nothing can defeat us, if only we try. You shall not win. We will stop you. Your defeat will be swift, and nothing will help you. Evil shall never prosper, not here; not now. We will be the death of you, evil, and then you will vanish._

* * *

Aelita:

The school day had just ended and we were meeting up with Yumi to talk about visiting the lab. Yumi was sitting on the bench where we usually sat to wait for the others. She waved to us when she saw us and we quickened our pace. As soon as we sat down we started discussing what we had planned.

"So, as soon as it gets dark we will sneak into the science building. Once there we will go to the lab that the supposed attack happened in. We will try to get into the room and see what we can find." I said. "Any questions?"

Odd raised his hand as if we were in class. "Yes Odd..."

"Do any of you even know what room the 'attack' happened in?"

We looked at each other feebly. No one really knew where the room was. We hadn't actually heard which one it was, just that it had happened in one of the labs. This was something that we would have to do before we could do anything else.

"Well, I vote that we find out what room it is now." Odd replied to the silence.

We got up and headed off in the direction that the science building was in. Once we reached the doors we found Sissi standing there waiting for us. She looked almost as though she knew exactly what we were doing. I didn't know if we would be able to ignore her or not, but I did know that we had to get in there.

"Where are you four off to in such a hurry?" she asked. "There is a room that has recently been made off limits to students, did you know about it?"

We looked at each other sheepishly again.

"I thought so. Did any of you have anything to do with it?"

"How could any of us had anything to do with it?" Ulrich asked suddenly. "We only found out about it recently."

"But it was blocked off yesterday. You had time."

"Now, now, Sissi, they were just curious. If they want to go into a restricted area and get in bunches of trouble, let them." Said an older voice.

We looked up, behind Sissi, and saw the new teacher. He was smiling at us warmly. It was almost as though he had been waiting for us, and had listened in on our conversation.

"I myself was just about to check out the room." He said. "And as long as there isn't anything dangerous in there I see no reason that they shouldn't be able to look as well."

He turned around and began walking into the building. We followed him close by and past Sissi. She made a huff noise and said, "Fine I will come too."

We all walked into the building and followed Professor Giis to the door. It had a pad lock on it. And Professor Giis unlocked it, but as soon as he had someone called his name. He turned and walked over to talk with the person leaving the door open to us.

"How irresponsible of him, leaving the door open." Sissi said. "Well, we shouldn't go into it until he comes back."

"Yeah, irresponsible..." Ulrich said in kind of a daze.

We were all in a daze, our curiosity getting the best of us. It was as though a fog had clouded our minds stopping our good judgment. We were being run purely on curiosity. Ulrich walked up to the door; he was moving almost as though he were in a dream. He placed his hand on the doorknob and began turning it. We all inhaled and began holding our breath. Slowly he turned it and it began to open; then with one gently push the door opened the rest of the way. We looked in and saw...

"Nothing..." I breathed.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. The tables and beakers seemed to be just as they should be. Nothing really seemed to be out of place at all...

"Unless..." I said and began walking forward.

As I walked into the room the others followed me. I turned and looked at the walls and suddenly realized why the room was blocked off. There were deep gouges in the walls. It looked like someone had taken three really sharp metal objects and slashed them into the walls everywhere. The marks were also on the floors and desks. Glass was everywhere and some of the chemicals had been spilled on the ground forming red pools every here and there.

"What happened?" Sissi gasped.

"Ms. Hertz was attacked." Odd replied still dazed. "We are trying to find out what it was."

We walked around and looked for any clue as to what might have done this. I couldn't imagine what kind of animal could cut through steel like it was paper. It just wasn't possible, and even if it were the animal would not have been able to get out of the room without being seen.

I looked at a stool which had been diced into fourths. It was a perfectly clean cut right through it with almost laser precision. Next to it was a metal cabinet door which I assumed had been knocked there. It had been ripped clean off and had folds and bends in it. There was also plenty of glass strewn all over the floor as if a hurricane had hit the room sending the glass everywhere. In places it was broken so finely that it appeared to be sand.

As I continued to search around I suddenly jumped when a shadow moved. It had appeared to be dog shaped, and seemed to be green in color, but there was something wrong with the green. It was more dark than green, almost as though it were destroying the light around it. The shadow had moved like smoke and had disappeared through the back of one of the counters.

Suddenly a wind picked up in the room and everything began shaking. None of the windows were open, and the wind was too strong to have been blowing in through them anyway. As the wind continued to blow objects began lifting up and blowing in random directions. They smashed into the walls around us and we realized that we needed to leave.

We ran for the door narrowly missing being hit by some random things that were flying through the air. But just as we were about to reach the door a black cloud of smoke lifted up and rushed at the door slamming it shut. A mixture of large objects followed the smoke ramming into the door sealing us in.

"The window!" Ulrich yelled pointing at the glass.

We began sprinting for the only way out. As we ran I suddenly heard a creaking noise and then the sound of wood and metal breaking. The counters, which had been bolted to the floor, lifted up and flew at the windows smashing into them and sending glass everywhere. We were now truly stuck in the room.

None of us knew what to do, or even what to think. The black smoke was thickening, and it was generating enough of a wind to send really large objects at us, and now most of the objects were moving at us. We had to dodge as tables, chairs, and other objects flew directly at us. I didn't know about the others but I nearly got hit by a few knives that flew at me.

Suddenly I heard Ulrich yelp in pain and saw him fall, blood spitting to the ground as he gripped a wound where he had been hit. Yumi and Sissi rushed to him as quickly as they could. Sissi made it there first and she placed her hands around his wound.

"I hope this works..." she said and suddenly a light appeared between her hands.

"What are you doing?" Yumi asked confused.

"I am trying to heal him." Sissi replied.

"You, what? You're kidding. This isn't some fantasy game." Yumi nearly shrieked.

"Oh, well tell that to the thing that is causing this." Sissi retorted. "And you aren't being of much help, why don't you use telepathy to stop those objects?"

"What do you mean, telepathy?" Yumi asked.

"God, what, did you forget what happened in the last four days?" Sissi screamed. "Oh, wait, you did, didn't you. That would explain a lot..."

"What are you talking about?" Yumi asked shocked.

"Look out!" Sissi yelled as a table top flew directly at Yumi's head.

The wood split as it flew and became a large splinter of wood. Yumi turned around just as it got three feet in front of her, then it suddenly stopped. The wood was emanating a soft purple glimmer of light, and all the color had drained from Yumi's face. She blinked and the wood fell to the ground.

"Did... did I do that?" she asked in a weak voice.

"Who else could have?" Sissi asked removing her hands from Ulrich's arm. His arm was fully healed and there was no trace of the cut he had endured.

"But how?" Yumi asked.

"Oh, no! Jeremie!" Sissi yelled as a chair leg flew at him. "Find out fast or..."

The leg stopped and dropped to the floor. Yumi appeared to have flinched suddenly but then she looked up with renewed courage and stamina. She began focusing on different objects around the room and they fell to the ground. But every time she focused on a different one the first would lift up again.

_Ha, ha, ha, you think you can stop me? The traveler was stupid to take your memories away, you now stand no chance. I will kill you all then there will be nothing stopping me or Xanadu. I will be able to regain the power that belongs to me, and without the part of him that he took back nothing will stop me from doing my worst._

We all heard the voice. It was almost like a whisper, but it seemed to come from everywhere. Really it was almost as though I had thought it myself.

"Yumi, focus on an area directly around us." Sissi said quickly. "Guys, get over here, I have an idea."

Quickly Jeremie, Odd, and I ran over to the others and got into a small circle. Yumi focused and a light purple veil was formed around us. The objects that were flying madly around the room stopped when ever they hit the veil. I didn't know how this was happening, and I didn't understand why, but I was grateful for the chance to relax.

We huddled there for a little while and cowered as Yumi protected us. No one spoke and the only sound was from the crashing of objects. We looked with what little light managed to get into the room as an onslaught of shards and twisted things continued to flow at us, but the objects were slowing down. As we watched everything in the room was brought to the center and hung there while more was summoned. Then with one final attempt to break through Yumi's barrier everything flew at us in a wave.

"Yumi!" Ulrich yelled as she began to fall and suddenly a sward was formed in his hands. He ran in front of Yumi and blocked the onslaught with the sward.

After a few seconds everything became quiet. The quiet was almost deafening. I could hear the others as they breathed in and out. We couldn't see anything because the last attack had fully covered the windows, but I knew it wasn't over yet. I could sense the presence of what ever was in the room with us.

_I am growing impatient with all of you. You will die now, and I will finish this! Now DIE!_

Suddenly a bright sick-green light was formed and it flew at Yumi and Ulrich. The light stopped just as it reached them but I could not only see but feel them beginning to be forced back by it. I began to fear for my life and more for my friends. I knew I had to do something, but I didn't know what. I had no idea of what I could do to be of any help.

Suddenly Ulrich began to speak. He spoke as though he were in a trance and the words were coming to him. "Here we are, going far, to save all that we love..."

"If we give what we've got we will make it through." Yumi continued.

I began to feel inspired and I felt a warmth begin to flow through me. Suddenly I knew what I had to do; I began to speak releasing the energy, "Here we are, like a star, shining bright on your world. Today, make evil go away!"

Suddenly a bright light was formed around Yumi and Ulrich. The light began to move against the dark green one pushing it back. As the white light pushed the green one back we suddenly heard a different voice.

"No, it's not logical. NOT LOGICAL!" and then there was a scream as the black smoke was engulfed by the white light.

The tables that were up against the windows splintered and fell to the ground allowing more white light to enter the room. The lights swirled around the black cloud of smoke and it began to disappear. Once the smoke was fully gone the light began to fade and we saw a green dog like thing standing on the ground looking at us. The look of the animal was that of cruelty, hate and evil. Its fur was ragged and twisted, and the expression it had on its 'face' was one that made me feel sick.

_This is not over! I can still kill you myself._ Said the first voice. _Now die!_

The creature suddenly jumped at us but was stopped by another one leaping on it and knocking it to the ground. The one that saved us was a lighter, healthier green and I got a sense of peace and purity from it.

_I don't know how you managed to get a body again, but you will not regain your power, Antavok! You will never be allowed to ravage the existence again, and I will personally see to it that you don't!_ said another voice.

_DAMN YOU TRAVELER! I will get my revenge._ Suddenly the dark creature disappeared in a pitch of dark green flame.

The creature that remained turned around and looked at us. It took a few steps forward and did something that looked like a bow. It then looked directly at Sissi and she jumped slightly. She nodded and said she understood; she then closed her eyes and covered her ears.

_I am sorry to have to do this again, but you deserve better... I will see to it that you are able to live a decent life._

Suddenly a bright light appeared from around the animal and surrounded us. A soothing sound rang in my ears and I lost consciousness.

I woke up and found myself lying on the ground just outside of the lab. Professor Giis was standing over us looking worried. Sissi was telling him something, but I was unable to hear for some reason. I tried to move and suddenly felt very sick.

"Oh, don't try to move. You were exposed to a very dangerous mixture of chemicals. Luckily you won't die, but you are paralyzed and you will have a loss of memory." Professor Giis said. He then turned to look at Sissi and said something, but again I was unable to hear what it was.

Professor Giis looked up and nodded to someone and suddenly I felt myself being lifted off of the ground. I was placed onto something and then moved away from the science lab. As I watched I was moved out of the building and into the main building. From there I was brought to the infirmary. I waited and heard the others being brought in; we were each placed on a bed and something was injected into my arm.

An hour later I woke up and was able to move again. I saw my friends still on the beds but they were also waking up. We looked around confused until the nurse came over to us and began to speak with us. She explained what had happened and how we were found. Apparently Sissi hadn't even entered the room with us, and when we were exposed to the chemicals and passed out she ran to get help. She and Professor Giis had pulled us out; I had been the first to get out of the room and Yumi was the last.

We were free to go and we went back to the dorms. I felt exhausted and I could see it in the others. We slowly made our way to Jeremie's room and sat down. After a few moments we began to speak again.

"Does anyone remember what happened?" Yumi asked.

No one did, but it seemed that I was the only one who had heard Professor Giis' explanation. I felt that I had to tell them, but there was something nagging at me. I couldn't tell what it was so I decided to ignore it.

"Professor Giis told me that the chemicals would affect our memory." I said sleepily. "Maybe that is why we can't remember anything."

"NO!" Yumi said nearly yelling. "Sorry, I just feel that there is something more. It is as if we are being forced to forget what happened. It just doesn't make sense, who, what could control our memory?"

"But that's not logical." Jeremie said shrugging it off. "There is nothing in modern science that can completely wipe memory away. And even if there was it isn't like anyone who would have access to it would want to erase our memory..."

There was a pause as we slowly took in what he had said. He was right, initially; there wasn't anything that he or I knew about. Even so, who _would_ want to erase our memory? We were normal children trying to live normal lives...

"Maybe it's magic..." Odd said almost in a whisper.

"What?" nearly everyone said at once.

"Maybe it's magic." Odd repeated stronger.

"That's not possible." Jeremie said exasperated. "Magic is..."

"Not necessarily." Yumi cut in.

"What are you saying, Yumi?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, please don't think that I am crazy, but I believe I actually remember what happened." She replied.

"What?" we all gasped.

"Well, it's just... It doesn't make sense, but I remember fighting something. And I remember using telepathy or something."

"That's nonsense." Jeremie shrugged. "Can't be, it had to have been a dream."

"Why are you being such a stick in the mud?" Ulrich asked.

"I, uh..." Jeremie started and then finished with, "Ok then, prove it. Use this telepathy."

Yumi looked at a shoe that was lying on the floor and focused on it. Suddenly the shoe jumped. She focused harder and it began emanating a dim purple-gold light. Without warning the shoe shot up into the air and hit the sealing. It hovered there pressing against the surface for a few seconds until Yumi stopped focusing and it fell to the floor again.

"Now do you believe me?" Yumi asked.

"Yes, and that is quite a talent you have there." Came Professor Giis voice from the door.

We all jumped and turned to face him. The door was wide open; we had apparently been too tired to close it behind us. He was looking in on us, almost with a look of delight on his face. His hands were moving in a silent clap as he took a few steps into the room.

"I was coming to see how you all were doing, but I didn't expect you to show signs of powers." He said. "Telekinesis. Impressive, yet you don't have control over it yet."

"When did you get here?" Ulrich asked quickly and sharply.

"Right when the shoe flew up into the air." He replied. "It's been a long time since I saw someone with a natural talent. And my last _student_ was... I don't even remember..."

"Wait, what? What are you saying?" Yumi asked.

Professor Giis sighed and said, "I have helped people learn how to use their 'abilities' many times before. You have abilities, I could help you learn to develop them."

"You mean that there are other people like me?" Yumi asked almost shocked.

"Yes."

"And you can help me learn to use my abilities fully?"

"Yes, if you so wish to allow me."

Yumi thought for a moment, and then came to a conclusion. "I will try for a little while. Then I will decide whether or not I like you teaching me."

"So it is settled then."

"Yes. For now."

Professor Giis left the room and we began talking for a while. The rest of the night wasn't very interesting. We soon went to bed ready for the next day of our 'normal' lives.

* * *

Yumi decides to go to one of Professor Giis classes, just to see what it is like, but she will meed some very interesting people within it. Multi parter.


	36. Children of a Different Kind

Sorry it has taken so long. I have been having a few personal problems and have been temporarily unable to write. Forgive me for that, if you please, and enjoy the next chapter.

* * *

Magic, in the wrong hands, can be disastrous to all living things. Magic and technology work similarly; where as technology is the understanding of all that is around us and (specifically) mechanics, magic is the understanding of all that is around us and ourselves. Technology can do things that would be considered magic hundreds of years ago, magic is the ability to do those things before technology allows you to, and to do it without technology.  
This has been a discovery moment. Brought to you by freckle O's, the delicious little O's with freckles. And by money. It doesn't grown on trees, but it sure comes from them.  
Also brought to you by the Traveler series. Buy it, read it, know it. It is everywhere (except in stores.)

* * *

Yumi:

The next day was Tuesday, the second day of school since that new teacher arrived. I still felt groggy from yesterday; having been out for part of the day and having inhaled those chemicals had taken a toll on my body. I got up and prepared myself for the day. Since I lived at home I had the privacy of living alone, and I didn't have to share the bathroom with anyone. I quickly ate breakfast and headed off for school.

The school was within walking distance, and I didn't mind walking sometimes. It allowed me to gather my thoughts, and after yesterday I had many thoughts to gather. I really didn't believe that we had simply been knocked out by the drugs, and my memory helped me with that. I knew that something else had happened. I remembered being attacked, but it was all behind a cloud of fog. I couldn't see anything as clearly as I needed to; I couldn't decide what to truly believe.

I knew one thing though; I wanted to understand my abilities better. I may have just found them to everyone else, but I felt that I had known about them for a very long time. What I couldn't understand was how everything was fitting together so well. There was something I was missing, but I couldn't tell what it was. In any case, I would be seeing that teacher today, I had science class third thing today.

I had made it to the school and I could see my friends watching for me at the bench that we usually sat at. They were talking and I couldn't quite hear what they were saying; yet somehow I got the feeling that it was about me. I focused my attention on them trying to tune my hearing, but what I got instead was a strange sensation and then I could hear them as well as if I were listening to their thoughts.

"So, you think Yumi will be showing up anytime soon?" Jeremie said, or thought...

"Hopefully, I don't want anything bad to happen to her." Ulrich said worried.

"Still, what about those powers that she showed?" Odd asked.

"What about them? We all have our secrets, even you Odd." Ulrich reminded him.

"Still, it isn't like it is a normal thing to be able to lift a shoe up like that. What if she can do other things, and, more still, what if she can't control it?" Jeremie asked.

"Well, I suppose that would be why she should see Professor Giis about her abilities." Ulrich said.

I felt warm inside as I realized that Ulrich was sticking up for me. I was happy to know that he felt the same way about me no matter what.

"Hey, do you get the feeling like we are being watched?" Jeremie asked.

"Yes, the little tingly feeling on the back of your neck thing." Odd said.

"I was just about to mention that..." Ulrich said. "Hey Yumi."

"Hey guys. I just arrived, did I miss anything?" I lied.

"Not much but first bell is about to ring." Jeremie said, lying as well.

The bell rang just as he had said and we filed out to our two separate classes. The others went their way and I went mine. As we separated without saying much I couldn't help but think about what they had been saying. I was actually hurt by their distrust of me now that I had some strange ability. I went to class and tried not to think about it.

After lunch I went to my science class. I knew that this was the first time that I would be seeing this new teacher actually teach. I would use this to influence my decision on whether or not I would accept his help, but really I didn't know what to expect from him. It wasn't like I had know him from anywhere other than the few times that we had met in the school.

I sat in my seat in the classroom and watched as he turned around. The board had a couple of really large equations on it explaining something about metamorphing. I didn't know what it was about really and as soon as he saw us he turned around again and wrote his name on the board. I'm not sure if I blinked or anything, but I didn't remember seeing him erase the board before he wrote on it and it was still clean as he wrote his name.

"My name, for those of you who haven't met me yet, is Professor Giis." He said. "Unfortunately your normal teacher met with an untimely accident, and was unable to prepare any notes on what you were doing before she went away... Oh, she isn't dead, just very ill... anyway, because she didn't leave any notes I don't know what you were working on, or were about to work on. Can anyone tell me?"

Someone raised their hand.

"Yes?" Professor Giis asked.

"We were working on the _theory of magic_." The student said and I heard snickers round the room.

"Very well then. If you will please pull out your books... They are teaching that earlier and earlier now adays aren't they? In my time that was college work. Anyway, please turn to page... what's the matter?"

Everyone in the room had their mouths open, including myself, and I obviously couldn't blame them. The blatant gullibility of this teacher was unbelievable. It was as though he would believe anything we told him. And the fact that words were suddenly appearing on the chalk board behind him helped as well.

"Well, is anyone going to tell me what is the matter or and I going to have to call on someone?" he asked kindly.

No one spoke, no one moved; we just kept staring at him and the chalk board. It was as though we were in a trance; the letters forming behind the incredibly dense old man was hypnotizing us into a daze that seemed to be endless. Some of us followed the letters as they formed while others just gaped at the teacher.

"Oh, very well then." He said and snapped his fingers. Suddenly the words dropped to the bottom of the board in a pile of chalk dust. "Can anyone tell me where we really are?"

I raised my hand. I knew and I didn't think we really needed something like that happening again.

"Yes, Yumi?" he asked in a warm voice.

"We had just finished a unit and were about to go onto the next one." I said. "But we were going to find out what it was today."

"Really?" He asked almost shocked. "What a smart teacher. It was almost as if she knew that she was going... (There was a brief pause) Not that she died or anything, just that she needed some time away... In any case, she did the same thing in every class. This will mean that you all get to choose what you want to learn, that has to do with science."

"Really?" someone asked startled.

"Yes, just make it appropriate and within scientific boundaries." Professor Giis said. "Now, you can discuss what you want to learn; I give you this class period to do so."

People turned around and began talking to one another. It was very strange; they all seemed so excited about the idea that we could learn anything we wanted to, within reason. I sat there astonished at this new idea. This lasted the entire class without much change until the end when we came to a decision.

After class I had only one class left until the end of the day. That class went by quickly enough, just a normal grammar class (A.K.A. English but since they are actually in France...) I began feeling the anticipation build up within me as I prepared myself for what was to come next. I didn't know what to expect, but the waiting was getting to me as I watched the clock tick away the seconds. When the bell finally rang I jumped startled that it was finally time.

I quickly packed up my stuff and left the class. Walking quickly I made my way to the science building. I didn't know where we were supposed to meet but I knew if I found Professor Giis then I would simply be able to follow him... I made my way into the building and began heading towards the room in which he was teaching, but as I passed by the locked room I stopped. There was a crowd of students staring at the door. Some of them had frightened looks on their faces, others had sick expressions, but most of them were simply gaping at it.

I looked to see what they were looking at and nearly jumped. There was blood on the door, what I could only assume to be human blood. The blood, when not dripping to the floor, was in very strange symbols. One of the symbols appeared to be a circle with three circles at triangular points; within the circle was many lines making up small triangle shapes. Someone suddenly said, "Oh, this reminds me of that game... I saw it recently, very old... I don't really remember the name, something about the end of the world, or was it Mars?"

"That would be the game, I played it when I was a child..." Came Professor Giis voice. "If this is a practical joke, who ever did it will be punished. Move along, children. You should _not_ be hanging around this room."

I heard his voice quiver as he spoke, almost as though he were frightened about something. The other students filtered out, but a few stayed behind. Those that remained looked at the Professor expectantly. I suddenly realized that they were meeting him as well. This meant that I was not the only one who had special abilities in this school...

"Well, Gwydion, what fight have you gotten us into this time?" he asked the air as he looked at the door. "In any case, if that kind of magic is being used, this should have been sealed. I will clean up your mess this time, but..." he looked at us and suddenly I was unable to hear anything. I was, however, able to read his lips. "...hope you didn't expect... by bringing me here... This is your fight, and even though you expect that... Antavok... I still have somewhere I need to be." I was suddenly able to hear again and Professor Giis looked at us and said, "Wait for me outside if you please."

As we walked away I felt a wave of energy and a rush of wind. _Alamus secritua defait..._ were the words I heard in the wind as it passed buy us. When we reached outside the other kids looked nervously at me, and I gazed back at them. I began wondering how they had discovered their 'abilities' and how Professor Giis had discovered them.

"My name is Yumi." I said taking the initiative. "What is yours?"

"I am Airema." Said a young girl who had longish brown hair and glasses. She was wearing mostly light green cloths with a bit of blue thrown in.

"My name is Raviena." A equally young boy said. He had somewhat long brown hair and was also wearing green.

I looked around and realized that all of them were wearing green. They had other colors on as well but the general theme was green. I began to wonder who they were, and why green seemed to be such a big deal to them. There were only seven people there, nut for some reason, the green included, it felt as though I was among much more.

"I'm Alentok, and this is my brother Jihanta." Said a young boy pointing to his younger brother.

"My name is Averais, and this is my younger sisters, Tailia and Aelias." Said a girl who seemed just a little older than me. Her sisters were standing on either side of her.

Now that I though about it their names seemed similar as well. I looked at their faces and saw the same qualities in them. I then realized that these kids didn't go to this school, and that I really hadn't ever seen them here before. They all appeared to have come from a different country, or...

"So... where are you from?" I asked Averais.

"Um... uh... Japan..." she said obviously hiding something.

"That's interesting," I said, not believing her. "Where in Japan?"

"Um, well. Tokyo?" she said, more as a question than a statement.

I knew one way of proving this false. I may not know very much Japanese but I knew enough to speak fluently. When she was unable to respond I would have proven her wrong.

"Anata wa nihongo o hanashimasu ka?" I asked.

"Hai. Watashi wa nihongo o hanashimasu." She replied, perfectly.

I took a step back. I had not expected her to be able to speak so fluently. She really did know how to speak fluent Japanese. Or did she just know how to say that one phrase. I decided to continue testing her.

"Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Yumi desu. Doozo yoroshiku." I said.

"Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Averais desu. Doozo yoroshiku." She replied.

We began speaking Japanese, starting a major discussion. The others looked interested, and almost relieved. Some of them even joined in. I was beginning to get the feeling that she really was Japanese, at least until Professor Giis came back.

"Well, children, I see you are all getting along. Yumi, how does it feel to be among a different race?" he asked. "Humanity isn't the only sentient species. Nor are they the only ones who have telepathic capabilities."

* * *

Yumi learns a few lessons, not just about her ability, but also about some other things that may become useful information. She decides to try an attempt at levitation, but is unable to bring herself to do it, at first. In the next chapter, Lesson One, the lessons will begin.


	37. Lesson One

There is a thin line between imaginary and real. This thin line can be crossed very easily and has been many times in our past. It is constantly being cut by new technologies, and by other things. Humanity, with the power of sentience, is reaching further than they have ever imagined.  
Some of the things that I will write are real, debatable methods among magicians, but real just the same. If you can decipher real from imaginary you may be one step closer to crossing that boundary yourself...

* * *

Still Yumi:

"What do you mean a different race? Aren't these people human?" I asked shocked.

"No, in fact, they are not." Professor Giis said. "They are a species that is known by the name Aricitic. Aricitics, as you know, are green dog like creatures with the ability to morph into anything that they have a sample from."

"What do you mean 'as I know'?" I asked shocked. "I haven't heard of Aricitics until now."

"What?" he asked apparently shocked. "But if you have met Gwydion... Oh, I get it, he wiped your memory. Now I see. That explains everything, the room, my having to lie about the room... It must be the 'living a normal life' thing again."

"What?" I asked bewildered by his randomness.

"Never mind, it isn't important. What we need to focus on right now is you, and your power. Gwydion, my... uh... 'brother', told me that you have a burning power that is just waiting to get out. You showed me some of it earlier, but he said that there is so much more. You even surprised him. Only a few people have done that in his many years..."

Suddenly I realized that as he spoke his physical features began to get younger. He was no longer the old man that he had once been, but was now an adult of about thirty six. His cloths had changed as well; rather than a white lab coat, he was wearing a long white robe. His hair had shortened a little and his beard was nearly gone.

"I have worked with many people of extraordinary power throughout my life, most of whom were Aricitic in origin, but I have worked with quite a few humans. All good things take time, Yumi; are you willing to take the time to learn?" he asked as a wind began to blow around us. "You can watch us a while before you make your decision. I brought along a few of my people because I had promised to train them before I was asked this favor, but I am still willing to work with you as well."

He then turned his focus to the other people, who, to my surprise, had changed and were no longer human in appearance. They were still humanoid, standing upright on two legs and holding out two arms, but they had become covered in green fur. Their ears hade moved up and folded back, and their noses and mouths had shifted down just a little. Really, they looked like a photo of a human had been lightly spliced with a photo of a dog, or more truthfully, a wolf.

As I watched them move around in their new forms I realized that this was still not their true form. They stumbled a little as they walked and didn't appear to fully know how to move all of their parts. They acted as though fingers were still new to them and I could see that they were use to having tails. It was strange, they had moved far more naturally as humans than they were now. I began to realize what Professor Giis was really teaching them, how to move in this body. Teaching them magic would most likely only come after they knew how to fully move. But, if he was to teach them how to move in the forms they were in, why had he not yet changed? He was still as human as I was.

"Professor Giis?" I asked as he paused in his instructions.

"Yes," he replied. "And, you can call me Gwyosis here. That is my nickname; where as my true name is Gwydion."

"Ok, Gwyosis, why are you still a human?" I asked.

"That is because I am no longer an Aricitic. I became fully human again many years ago and am no longer able to morph. I gave up my Aricitic form so that... well it is far to complicated for any of you to understand."

"Oh, well, then how can you teach them how to be something that you aren't?"

"That is because I was teaching Aricitics far before I actually became one myself. I was teaching them when even I was still learning magic myself. The humanoid form you see them in now is the easiest form for Aricitics to do human-like work, and because the beginning of magic is, for me at least, best taught when in human form, this makes it easiest. Also, if Aricitics are able to morph into a human form without human genetics then Aricitics will no longer have to rely on humans, and, for that at least, humans will be safe around them."

"Wait, safe? You mean..."

"Yes, normally it would be very dangerous for an Aricitic and a human to be in the same area, even the same world, universe, etc. but this is a special case. These fine young Aricitics are calm around humans, even though they do get nervous. (He paused and looked at the others.) They are still capable of being around you and not attack you. Besides they wouldn't do anything against me because I am..." he stopped.

"What? You're what?"

He kept his silence. I could tell that he didn't want to tell me something important. It was as though he were the god or ruler of them, or something like that. But that was silly, how could a human be a god or rule over something that was so dangerous against humans.

_How indeed... He is our emperor. He is the emperor of half of all Aricitics. But he is not our god. That is his... brother..._ I heard Averais's voice in my head. _I am telepathic, just like you are, but my ability is far more trained than yours is. We are all born with this ability, and that is why I knew Japanese so fluently._

"Whoa, I just heard you speak in my head." I said. "How did you do that?"

_As a telepathic race we are able to not only read thoughts and feelings from others but we are also able to transmit them as well. If I choose I can let you sense everything that I do._ She told me. _This is one of the things that make our race so powerful._

"But to fully understand one's abilities, one must first understand one's self and the other way around. That is why we have this taught in our 'schools' where we normally live. Which, by the way, is where we are right now. Don't go wondering off, Yumi, I don't want you to be attacked." Gwyosis said.

"Ok. I don't think I would anyway... You are my only way home, I won't be leaving you any time soon." I said.

I found a rock and sat down. I decided that I would watch the others learn. It might be fun, and I knew that it would be entertaining. The creatures, Aricitics, were standing watching Gwyosis. He was talking to them making gestures around a glowing ball. Suddenly the ball shifted and changed color. The ball flew forward just a little and stretched out forming a square. Now each of the Aricitics looked at their own hands and small green balls were formed. They manipulated the balls as Gwyosis had instructed.

I looked around me, finding myself a little board, and saw that we were in a small clearing within really thick woods. The trees looked a little different than the trees on earth, but I wasn't sure what it was. The sky also looked different somehow. I began wondering where we were. Gwyosis had said that this was where they normally lived, did that mean that this was the Aricitic 'home world'? Was this somewhere in our galaxy or even universe?

Well, that wasn't really that important, I wouldn't be here for long. While I waited I decided to practice what I was here to learn. Since the others were doing things that I didn't even really know I decided to do a little independent study. I focused on a small rock that was lying on the ground in front of me. I tried to remember back to what I had done earlier; I remembered that I had focused on the shoe and thought of it moving up. Slowly I told the rock to move up; nothing happened. I tired again, _lift up._ I though at the rock. Still nothing happened.

"Need some help?" Gwyosis asked.

I jumped and turned around. He was standing behind me watching my attempts at making the rock move. "Um, yeah." I said.

"Good, then we can begin."

He took a few steps back and placed out his hand. As I watched, somewhat confused, I saw a small light appear within his hand in a ball shape. The ball began to lengthen and I realized that more lights were coming off of it. The other lights made a small cloud around the first.

"This is energy. Every living and nonliving thing has energy but how much and what kind depends on what the energy comes from. There are a few ways to begin using this, at least for humans, the first of which I will teach you."

I nodded and got ready to do what he said, not exactly sure what this had to do with levitating things.

"To begin with close your eyes and see a dark outline of yourself. Right around your heart will be a ball very much like this. That is, depending on who you are talking to, referred to as your center. Your center holds most of your energy, what is almost always used in magic. To access that energy see a small trail of it flow out from it into your arm. Pull the energy down your arm and into your hand; once there try and manipulate it into a ball."

As I did what he said I felt a tingling move down my arm. The tingling sensation continued into my hand and then just above my fingers. I opened my eyes and saw a faint glow just above my palm.

"Good, you will either feel a tingling, a change in temperature or a change in pressure. I believe you are feeling a tingling. Also, most people wouldn't be able to actually see much yet, but because you are naturally gifted you can see your energy already. We will begin manipulating the energy later, but for now I need to get you back. Your friends are a little worried about you."

"They are?" I asked. "How long have I been here?"

"Two hours." He responded. "And while you can call me Gwyosis here, don't while we are in school..."

I suddenly found myself back on the school grounds standing behind the others. They appeared to be looking for me. I walked closer to them and tapped Ulrich on the shoulder. He jumped and turned around; when he saw me it looked as though a weight had been lifted.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"Taking my first lesson." I replied.

* * *

Ulrich and the gang question Yumi and they make a very interesting discovery. Yumi suddenly remembers something. She then leads the rest of the gang to where the factory used to be where they find Sissi waiting for them. Yumi nearly gets Ulrich killed, or does she? More truth will be reveled in A Factory of Discoveries.


	38. A Factory of Discovery

Ahem, I have every intention of actually writing a story based on the 'hints' that I made earlier to the world of the Lyoko Holy Lands, but I am finding it a little more difficult to do so. It will be a completely original fiction with only a few things based on the original Lyoko. I will write it, and if I can find the time and energy I may even be able to animate it into a web comic... But that is unlikely. In any case, I have a few things in the works, including all the other original things I have yet to finish, so look around for them, eventually... Sorry for the delay, but making completely original concepts is just a tad more difficult than writing a fanfic... no offense.

* * *

Ulrich: 

"Taking your first lesson? You were gone for an hour, and I mean gone. We looked all over the school for you and couldn't find you." I said a little angry.

"That's because I wasn't in the school... I wasn't even-" She stopped and appeared to think for a moment. "I wasn't even on school grounds."

"Then where were you?" I asked intimidated by the pause.

"I was at an abandoned factory that is on an island in the river." She said. "I can show you where it is."

"What factory?" Jeremie asked suddenly. "There isn't an abandoned factory on the river."

"No there is, I am sure of it." Yumi replied. "I can show you and prove it."

She paused for a moment and appeared to thing again. Then she began heading off into the park within the school grounds. We followed her, out of curiosity and concern. As we followed her we suddenly came to a manhole that was in the middle of the small forest. She opened it and slipped down into it. As we followed her we realized that we were in a sewer drain that ran off into the river. For some reason it seemed so familiar to me; as we passed three skateboards and a scooter I suddenly got a small flash of something. It was us riding them down the drain to somewhere. I had no idea where the memory came from; as far as I knew none of us had ever done it.

Yumi took one of the skateboards and jumped on it. We followed her, Odd and I taking the other two and Jeremie and Aelita taking the scooter. We followed Yumi down the small tunnel that the sewer made until we reached an end in it. Yumi jumped off of her skateboard and began climbing up a latter that was next to us and as she did so I got another flash of memory. I saw a factory sitting on a little island in the center of the river with a little bridge going out to it. The memory was so strong that I began feeling sure that we would see the factory as we exited the hole.

Yumi climbed out of the manhole, and I followed. I turned to see... nothing. The factory, which I had begun to believe was actually there, was not. It was just an empty space in the river. Oddly enough though, Sissi was standing there as though she had been waiting for us. As soon as the others climbed out of the hole she began to speak.

"So you finally came back to see the factory?" she asked. "Well, as you can see it isn't here. I heard that it was torn down because it was getting too old... but I am not sure if that is true."

"It isn't." Yumi said quickly. "I know that is a lie, a cover up. Someone doesn't want us to..."

She began walking towards where I was sure it would have been. She reached the edge of the pavement but instead of stopping she continued as if there was actually a bridge there. Shocked I began running to stop her. I didn't want her to fall into the river, which would be nothing but bad. Seeing that she had no intention of stopping I quickened into a mad dash to stop her.

"Yumi, stop!" I yelled, but she ignored me.

I managed to get to her before she placed her foot down and lost balance, but instead I lost balance and began falling. I looked down at the rushing water below me and began to panic, I was falling forward with enough speed that I would probably land a quarter of the way in. A quick glance up at Yumi made me realize that she was acting as if nothing was happening. My heart sunk as quickly as I fell, and suddenly... Thud! I landed on something solid.

"What the?" I asked the air as Yumi placed her foot next to me.

"Ulrich, what's going on?" Jeremie asked.

"There is something here." I replied hitting my hand against the ground.

The others walked over and placed one foot against the invisible material. They all seemed as shocked as I felt. All of them except Sissi, she walked over onto it as though she could see what ever was there.

"It's just as I thought. It isn't really gone, it was just made invisible." She said. "And you knew so, didn't you Yumi?"

"No, I really didn't know." Yumi replied. "I just had this feeling."

We continued to walk across the invisible bridge, following Yumi and Sissi. They continued onwards a few feet, about ten in all, when they suddenly disappeared. I had no idea where they had gone, but I followed and the others followed me. As we reached where they had disappeared we suddenly found ourselves inside a large building. It was mostly empty, except for two things.

In the center of the room there was a symbol burned into the floor. It was still emanating light even though it had long since been put out. It had an 'S' engraved within the center circle, but around the 'S' there were other markings. An 'N' was placed directly on the center of the center line, and something that looked like a 'T' was engraved on top of the lower right hump of the 'S'. There were other symbols around it that I didn't recognize.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"This is the abandoned factory that once held a way of getting from our world to another." Sissi responded speaking in a knowledgeable way her arms crossed. "But I believe it has become much more."

As she finished speaking we heard a piece of rubble fall and when we looked to see what had caused it we saw a green wolf-like creature walking at us. It was bearing its teeth menacingly and I could hear a low growl. Suddenly it made a dash at us and I prepared to run but Yumi said, "Wait!" She put her right hand out and suddenly a light purple flicker went across the air in front of us. The wolf kept going and slammed right into it. As it backed off I saw an extreme look of shock in its face.

A small breeze blew and I saw a spiral of light form next to us. Another green wolf appeared, but this one was a slightly lighter shade, and generally looked healthier. It bared its teeth and made a dash at the other one. With a quick pounce it leapt onto the dark one and threw it to one side away from us. When the other one landed a dark cloud of black smoke rose up out of it and it disappeared. For a second I thought that we had 'won' or something but I quickly realized that we hadn't as the smoke began moving at us in one quick motion. The smoke engulfed the light wolf and stopped at the barrier that Yumi had created.

Yumi closed her eyes and suddenly rushed forward through her barrier. On the other side I saw a bright flash and the smoke was cut in half. It began dissipating and despaired in a puff. I thought it was gone but I realized that some of it had remained. That small amount grew larger and made an attack at Yumi. She flinched back, and in blind determination I rushed forward and grabbed her. Together we focused and a small light appeared in her hand. I looked down at mine and saw that I had a small light as well. We both squeezed on our lights and a sward was formed for me. Yumi's light made a Japanese stile fan, which she spread out into a circle.

Quickly I slashed at the cloud and Yumi threw her fan. The smoke was again dissipated and this time it fully disappeared. Our weapons disappeared as well and we began to fall. As I fell to the ground I felt someone catch me but I was too tired to see who it was. Slowly I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up I saw that I was lying in my bed in the dorm. I looked around and saw that Jeremie, Aelita and Odd were in the room with me. Looking a little further I saw Yumi lying on Odd's bed. She appeared to still be asleep.

The others noticed that I was awake and came over to me. "Are you ok?" "You were out for a few hours." and "What happened?" were my welcomes.

"I'm fine, now." I said. "But I am not sure what happened. I saw that Yumi was in danger and I rushed to help her. I have no idea how I created that sward or what that cloud was."

"As I know it," came Sissi's voice. "It is the X.A.N.A. cloud. It is what he used to take over things and control them."

"What?" we all asked in unison.

She sighed. "It is beginning to get a little dangerous to keep you five out of the loop." She said. "Eventually you are going to have to remember..."

"I know, but I can't do anything about it." Came Professor Giis's voice from by the door. "It isn't my decision; it's my... brother's. And until he decides it is time, well there is nothing I can do about it."

"What are you two talking about?" I asked getting up. "How are we out of the loop? What loop?"

"Yeah, what aren't you telling us, Sissi?" odd asked.

"It wouldn't matter if we told you; you wouldn't remember it for long." Sissi said. "I doubt you would remember even longer than a day. For that matter you will probably forget this much as well."

"So then what should we do?" Jeremie asked. "You can't expect us to just lay back and relax can you?"

"Unfortunately yes." Professor Giis said. "Gwydion has gone through quite a bit of work to try and allow you five to live a normal life. You should just accept it and try to have fun. If you do so you may even make it more than one day..."

"So that's it then?" I said. "We just sit back and relax? We just play video games, attend school, and..."

"Go on dates?" came Yumi's voice.

I looked over and saw that she had woken up. She was sitting looking at me and smiling. I saw that she had begun blushing after that comment, and I believed that I was as well. We had gone on dates before but I was still a little shy about our love life...

"Well, that's just about it." Sissi said. "And Ulrich, dear, I have finally given up... I see that you and Yumi really are meant to be..."

* * *

The children decide to give in and not press for more information about this war that is going on around them. They choose to live life like 'normal' children, but when Odd take Sam on a date they soon find out that they aren't going to be left alone. They suddenly find themselves... dead. Find out what happens and who comes in in the next chapter Romance and Tragedy.


	39. Romance and Tragedy

Ah, young love... So peaceful, so innocent, so... um, where did everyone go?  
Ah, young love... if only it weren't just a dream...

Sorry about that, just being a little depressing... ready for this chapter?

* * *

Odd:

It was a new day, a few days after the factory incident. We had all decided to take Sissi and Professor Giis's suggestion and get on with life. We wouldn't try to fight a war that we were being excluded from. This would of course open options in playing video games, school, and of course our love lives... and that was one area that I fully intended to focus on.

For the past few days I had been unable to see Sam because of various reasons. I wanted to get together with her again. We could go on a date or just hang out together. Either way it would be great to see her again.

I looked up her phone number on my cell phone and selected the speed dial number. The phone rang twice and she picked up, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Odd. Would you like to go out somewhere together?"

"Hey Odd. Sure, where did you have in mind?" she asked.

"I don't know, how about a movie?" I said.

"Sounds fun, when should I meet you?" she asked.

I though about it for a second. There were a couple of good movies that I knew of that were playing recently. I wasn't sure of which one she would prefer, but then it occurred to me. "Twelve thirty, noon." I said.

"Ok, and..."

"At the Opal Cineplex." I replied.

"Ok, I will see you then."

I knew the perfect movie that she would love. I recalled hearing her say that she had wanted to see it, but she had been unable to. Now was a great time and we could see it together. I began thinking about what else we could do, but I was unable to think of anything immediately.

Twelve thirty was only an hour away and I wanted to pick up a few things. I headed into town as quickly as I could. When Yumi had been in a bad mood Ulrich had gotten her a rose; it had improved her mood greatly. If that could work that well for someone in a terrible mood then I wondered what it could do for someone who was already in a good mood.

I only knew of a few flower shops in town, I didn't really go to them that often. I also had a limited budget so I wouldn't be able to get very many. The flouriest that I went to also had chocolates, which was perfect for me. They even had Sam's favorite kind. I bought a small bouquet and a box of the chocolates.

I now had half an hour left until we were to meet and the theater was about twenty minutes away. I quickly glanced at the sky. It seemed clear, not a cloud in the sky, but I began walking quickly anyway. I didn't want to be late, and the earlier I was there the better it would look.

I got there in fifteen minutes; I must have really been running... As I slowed to a walk and caught my breath I suddenly felt cold. I looked up at the sky again and nearly dropped the flowers; there were dark clouds looming overhead. It seemed that a thunderstorm had quickly rolled in. As I stared up at the sky I suddenly felt a raindrop land on my face. This was bad; I had hoped that it wouldn't rain because it would ruin our date.

I looked down at the curb and saw Sam standing looking up at the storm as well. I smiled and walked over to her. "Hey Sam," I said with a grin. She looked down at me and smiled, then she saw the flowers and candy and her smile grew. I handed them to her and snuck a quick kiss. As I pulled back I saw that she was blushing and I knew that I was as well.

"Shall we get our seats?" Sam asked still blushing.

"Yes," I said and got our tickets.

We found our seats in the room it was playing in and sat down with five minutes to spare. Sam opened her chocolates and began eating them. I had also gotten us drinks and a small thing of popcorn. I placed my hand on the hand rest and found Sam's hand there; we jumped slightly but she moved her hand palm up and I placed mine in it.

The lights dimmed and the movie began. There were only a few previews and the opening credits before the movie started. The beginning of the movie came and went. We continued to hold hands, only breaking to pass the popcorn. At one point Sam even rested her head on my shoulder; just before the middle of the movie. That was when things began to get interesting; not because of the affection that she was showing me but instead because we heard a crack of lightening and the power went out. The movie stopped and the screen went pitch black.

I heard a few screams as people initially panicked and Sam squeezed my hand for a second. Suddenly there was another crack of lightening and an electrical surge hit the movie projector. A beam of light hit the movie screen and I saw a black cloud coming out of it. As the light faded and I was unable to see it any more I heard more screams and people running, but Sam and I were frozen to our seats.

There was another crack of thunder and the projector lit up again. A beam of light hit the screen again and we saw the cloud. Behind the cloud was a hole that was being formed. I could see the darkness in the room spiraling into the center of the hole as it widened. The cloud began moving towards us as the light dimmed, and I began to really panic.

There was darkness for a few seconds and almost total silence. I could hear a feint sound of rushing air coming from somewhere in front of us. Sam was still holding onto my hand but it wasn't out of fear. I felt strength and bravery coming from her grip; it was as though she knew what was going on. Suddenly I realized... we couldn't escape the war that was raging on around us. We couldn't escape it because, for us, it was inescapable. The war wasn't just around us, it was about us.

There was another crack of lightening and the projector flashed again. I saw that the cloud was directly in front of us now. I could barely breathe, as though the oxygen was being sucked out of me. Suddenly the light faded and I felt myself being lifted up. My throat was being tightly squeezed and I felt sharp pains in the rest of my body. I began moving very quickly forward. There was one last crack of lightening and this time the bulb in the projector exploded. There was just enough light for me to see the black gaping hole suck me in before everything went completely black...

Sam:

When I woke up I found myself in a small dark cave, at least it felt like a cave. The walls and roof were very close to me and were very hard. I could barely move my body, except in one direction. I extended an arm to see what was in that direction and I felt something soft and slightly warm. I quickly moved my arm away from what ever it was but when I wasn't attacked I moved it back and felt it a little. I quickly realized, to both my shock and embarrassment that it was a human boy.

I moved my arm away again and focused on my hand. A small light formed in it and I focused a little harder. The light grew enough to cast light around me; as soon as I could see I looked over at the boy. I gasped as I realized that it was Odd. His face was white and he didn't look like he was breathing. I quickly placed my pointer and middle fingers against his neck to feel for a pulse. I found one but it was feint.

I moved my hand over his chest and began focusing on it again. Lights began forming all around my hand and began flowing into Odd's chest. I watched as the lights, my energy, moved through his body creating a soft glow. I saw the color return to his face and his eyes opened. Slowly he sat up and I quickly moved to hug him, squeezing him tightly.

"Whoa, what happened?" he asked surprised.

"You were unconscious, nearly dead." I told him. "But I revived you."

"Oh, uh, where are we?" he asked.

"I don't know." I replied. "But as far as I can tell there is no way out."

I lifted the small light higher and he gaped at it. I looked around, ignoring his reaction for a moment, to see what I could. The walls and roof were less than five feet in a circle around us. There was barely enough room for us to even move slightly. I began wondering what this place was.

"How can you do that?" he asked.

"I learned." I replied.

"From who?"

"The traveler... He offered to teach me." I said and took a breath. "About three months ago he came and found me. Quickly he made me an offer. He said that he would help my parents with their financial problems, and get me out of legal trouble if I made a promise."

"What was the promise?"

"I had to be happy..." I said quickly. "For some reason he seems to have a thing for people's happiness, and people's relationships... The offer to teach me magic came about two months ago."

"Ok, but who is the traveler?" Odd asked.

I turned and looked him in the eyes gawking. I couldn't believe he had just asked that. The traveler had, after all, started this entire thing... how could he not know who...

"You have been left out of the loop haven't you?" I asked. "You were made to forget everything about the past year and a half, about Lyoko and everything... To live out a normal life... damn, he really does care about other people. No wonder I was taught magic."

"But... who is this 'traveler'?" Odd asked again.

"Ok, you know the new teacher at your school? Professor Giis, I believe is what he is going by... Well his real name is Gwyosis, he is the traveler's other self." I said and realized that Odd would have no idea what that meant. "In other words many years ago Gwydion, the traveler, split himself into two beings."

"Himself and Professor Giis?" Odd asked.

"Actually no, he was split into himself and another person named Ginda. Then a few years after that he was split again into himself and Gwyosis." I said. "There are four of them now. Gwydion, also called Gwinesis sometimes, Gwydion's first double Ginda, also called Ginois at times, Gwydion's third double Gwydion or Gwyosis, and finally the most recent one-"

"Me, Gwydevis." Said a voice nearby. "I was created from our most hated enemy, Antavok, when we defeated him. Or so was thought until recently..."

I looked over next to me and saw the man sitting comfortably. He was grinning wildly in an almost insane way. He was after all everything evil from the original. When he was created his soul was supposedly diffused from the soul of Antavok separating power from evil. Even though he was 'bad' he still wasn't evil... or so I was told.

"Ok..." Odd said. "So, do you know where we are?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Dead, basically."

"What?" Odd and I yelled at once.

"When you and he were sucked into that portal you initially died. You are no longer part of your physical bodies, nor are you part of your physical universe. I am sure that most people would agree that that would qualify as dead."

My mouth dropped. Dead? How could I be dead? I was too young to die... besides...

"Can't you get us out of here?" I asked.

"Nope. I only am able to move myself through universes, no one else." He said. "My abilities are limited, you wouldn't want much more... or so says Gwydion anyway."

I sighed and looked over at Odd. He looked grim, as if he were going to be sick. "Oh, ignore him. He isn't like the rest of them; more like a child if you ask me."

"Hey, if you were trapped inside pure evil for a couple billion years you would act like me as well." He said defensively. "Besides, compared to the others I really am a child."

He suddenly disappeared leaving us alone again. I was glad he was gone; there was something about him that just angered me. I don't know what it was but it just made me want to do something bad... I sighed and turned back to Odd.

* * *

Odd and Sam are missing, somehow everyone knows the instant they are gone. Now they have to get them back, but it is more complicated than that... Without any knowledge of the natural abilities they posses they have no way of getting their friends back, not alone anyway. Luckily for them there are people who are willing to help... So much for the 'normal' life in Too Many People.


	40. Too Many People

I am taking a bit of artistic leeway here. The places mentioned are my own, completely original, and copyrighted. Oh, and to address a problem that someone noticed, most things that I put in my stories will have an explanation or two eventually, later in this story or in another. The problem in question will be addressed in another story though... sorry.  
Um, it may be just a wee bit unrealistic but to heck with realism. Gimme a good old fashioned fiction story anyday... Anyway, I will stop complaining again and let you read.

* * *

Sissi:

I was sitting in my dorm room doing the homework that I had been assigned. It was boring stuff, but I had been getting extra help laity. I knew what I was doing now and was able to do it, but it was still boring. The homework was a little math, a little science, and a little social studies; I had already finished the social studies and the science and all that was left was the math.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair; I began day dreaming. The traveler had changed my life so much now. Most of it was for the better, he had helped me in school, helped me with my friendships, and generally helped me improve my personality. But on the other hand I had been thrown into a war that had little to do with me. My new friends, Ulrich's gang, didn't remember anything and I lost Ulrich as a boyfriend.

This brought my mind back to the original agreement with the traveler. He had said that I would be able to be with the group that I had wanted to be with so much, and I had eagerly agreed. I didn't know that that would mean that I would have to be out of it first...

I sighed again and thought about what I had seen so far. I had been to the Lyoko Holy Lands and seen what that was like. The traveler had fought against Xanadu and the other creature many times, with my help of course. I had seen many impossible things, things that would have frightened me before... but I had also seen the place where Gwyosis lived, Aricitopia, as they called it.

It had been fabulous... the buildings were built into nature and everything seemed so magical. The Aricitics themselves were green wolf-like animals, and they lived mostly like so, but much of their lives were similar to a human's. They lived in cities built of stone, wood, and metals, like humans. They were creative, like humans; resourceful, like humans. Yet, it seemed, unlike humans, they seemed to live in harmony with nature. All of their buildings had plants and other animals living on and in them. Cities looked almost like mountains, and the countryside was unrecognizable.

Perhaps it was because of their special ability, the one that allowed them to literally become any thing that they had a sample from. At first I had thought that had meant any animal, but I realized that they could become _anything_, even things that weren't thought of as living. They were also somehow able to incorporate qualities of other things into themselves, whether or not they were that thing at the time. This would certainly change my views of the things around me, if I could become them...

I had been taken to Aricitopia for two reasons. The first was because during a battle against Xanadu I had become fatally wounded. The traveler might have been able to heal me, but he decided that he should just be sure. Quickly I was brought to Aricitopia and to the best 'doctor' they had. The Aricitic wasn't really a doctor, not for other Aricitics at least. Their ability made them immune to most things, and they were regenerative. But he was a doctor for most magical crisis. I was left in his care for a while, and when I was better the traveler showed me around.

It was only until after I had come back to earth, and this universe, that I was told how much of a risk it had been to take me there. Aricitics and humans don't usually get along. This is double for a human who can use magic. When an Aricitic takes a human form, from their DNA, and the human is capable of using magic, they become a more powerful variation called an Ariciticen...

In any case it was a real treat to be there while I was. Because the entirety of Aricitopia was created by Gwydion and Gwyosis, and because Gwydion is capable of traveling to other universes, there were millions of things there from other places. They had one library that held over a trillion books; books from nearly every universe and every time period. But what I found really interesting was the immense number of other creatures in the universe. There was an entire planet made up of animals that were half human half other animal. It seemed that there was one of every kind.

My mind drifted back to the problem at hand. I had to get this math problem done. I looked at my paper. The first equation was _y __ax_ _b_. The second problem, a little different, was _y mx_ _b_. The third problem was _y __-b /-_ the square root of _b_ squared _– 4 ac_ over _2a_. What I was supposed to do was name the equations... I was stuck on the first one, and had all the others done already.

I leaned back in my chair again and heard a crack of thunder. Suddenly the power went out. I jumped and relaxed again as the school's backup power came on. It seemed that we had a storm going on, which was odd because the sky had been perfectly clear an hour ago. I glanced at my clock and saw that it was twelve forty-six.

I stood up, and began pacing. The math problem was really getting to me... As I continued to pace I thought about it. Suddenly I began getting a really bad feeling. Something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what it was. As the traveler had taught me magic he told me that my senses would increase, as would my 'sixth' sense.

Quickly I sat down on the floor and calmed myself. I began allowing my mind to wonder casually and slowly I began leading it in the direction of the bad feeling. I began to see outside of myself, somewhere in town. I saw a movie theater, the Opal Cineplex, and I followed the feeling inside. It was pitch black inside but that was quickly taken care of when another flash of lightening created a surge and the movie projector began illuminating the room again. I saw the dark cloud that Xanadu used, but behind it was a hole in the movie screen. I suddenly realized what was happening; Xanadu was trying to get rid of one of us. Looking around the room I saw Odd and Sam sitting petrified, mere inches from the cloud. As the lights dimmed I heard them being lifted up and pulled into the hole, then I felt a rush and was knocked back into my body. It felt as though I had been smacked by a brick wall and I gasped for air. Another smack and I knew that Odd and Sam were gone...

I sick; they were gone and I had done nothing. There had been little that I could have done. All I could do now was find Gwyosis and tell him, though I was sure that he already knew. I should also tell the others...

I got up and opened my door. Slowly I walked out towards Ulrich and Odd's room. This was where I assumed that they would be, or at least Ulrich. I walked up to the door and knocked, I then listened for a response but the room was dead silent. They weren't there, which meant that the next person to contact was Jeremie. I began walking to his room. When I reached his room I saw that the door was ajar. I could hear Jeremie talking inside, and I heard Aelita's voice as well.

Suddenly to my right I heard thundering footsteps. I turned to see what it was and saw Yumi and Ulrich making a mad dash towards me. They had a look of dread on their faces, and I knew that they already knew. I sighed and knocked on the door. Jeremie and Aelita had long since stopped talking and he opened the door. When he saw me he nodded and when he saw Yumi and Ulrich he nodded again. He opened the door wider and allowed us in.

"Well," I said. "I assume that, by the look of fear and dread on your faces you all felt what I did."

"Like something was ripped from you, torn right out of your heart and soul?" Yumi asked.

"Two empty spaces where there should be something?" Aelita added.

"A slash in the fabric of space and time and then a slap or two?" Jeremie put in.

"And, lastly, the disappearance of Odd and Sam?" Ulrich added looking at literally.

There was a silence for a second. No one really looked at anyone else. We all just stared silently at the floor. I felt sick and I knew the others did as well. Really it felt as though the two had _died_...

"Well, initially they have." Gwyosis's voice came through the door. "They have been taken to another universe and we are having a hard time locating them. It seems that X.A.N.A. has become more powerful than any of us expected. For now we will have to wait until either Ginda or Gwydion get here."

"So much for leading a normal life..." Ulrich said.

"Hey, we are trying." Came a female voice.

There was a small flash of light and a rush of wind. A woman appeared in the room. I recognized her as Ginda and stepped back to allow more room for her. She was tall, about as tall as Gwydion. Her hair was very long and a light brown, as long as Gwydion's when he was 'older'. She appeared to be the age of thirty six, or somewhere around there.

"How about we let Gwyo-Professor Giis in..." she said and opened the door.

"Thank you Ginda." He said as he walked in. "Any news?"

"No, unfortunately. I haven't heard anything, neither from Gwydion nor Gwydevis."

"Um, who is she?" Ulrich asked.

"This is Ginda," I cut in. "She is, um..."

"Related to Gwydion, the traveler, someone who you still don't know about yet, apparently." She then turned to Gwyosis, "The 'living a normal life' thing again?"

"Of course... well, that got someone killed, but has that ever stopped him before?"

"No, your right, but aren't we supposed to be operating on minimal interference?"

"Tell that to Xanadu."

"Um, not to interrupt this fascinating conversation, but what are we going to do about this?" Ulrich asked.

There was a flash of light and a rush of air. Suddenly the room became a little colder and I felt a shiver run up and down my spine. I looked around and saw that everyone in the room was feeling uncomfortable; I knew who had arrived.

"Found them." Came Gwydevis's voice from the ceiling.

We all looked up and saw him sitting there hunched over with his hands on the ceiling. He was grinning down at us, almost like a large human spider. He was a youthful looking man with short dark brown hair and vividly grey eyes. There was an air about him that made me feel uncomfortable...

"Where are they?" Ginda asked.

"In a separately created universe, and a very small one at that. I had to go beyond it to even be able to enter without killing the two." He said in a giddy tone. "And Gwydion does know, but I doubt there will be much he will be able to do about it."

"You're joking." Ginda replied.

_No he isn't._ came a voice in my head. I recognized it as an Aricitic voice and looked over in the only space left in the room. _We can't even access it, it seems that it is well hidden and locked._

"Gwydion?" I asked shocked.

_Wrong. I am a different form, a fifth if you will... he is still trying to find a way, but it seems futile._ Said the Aricitic. _Say, why don't we go somewhere more open?_

I suddenly felt a rush of air and felt myself being pulled. It was as if gravity had just shifted and I was falling in a different direction. When my eyes cleared and my mind stopped spinning I found myself in an open field. I wasn't sure, but it didn't look like a different universe.

"Damn, I am going to need help on this one..." said Gwydion as he literally walked into the universe. "Sorry I am late, traffic was hell..."

* * *

With the traveler's help the gang is able to recover the two lost friends. Jeremie gets to see something truly special, but when he returns to 'earth' with Aelita and the others something happens and he has a spur-attic memory recovery. With the memory of the factory, Lyoko, and the truth, how will Jeremie react. Find out in Tragedy Averted, Memory, and Return to Lyoko. 


	41. Tragedy Averted Memory, and Return to Ly...

Yeah, uh, so they really haven't been able to have a normal life... Sorry about that, but you won't have to worry about that for much longer... They will, well, never mind, you will find out soon enough... (insert cynical laughter.)

* * *

Jeremie:

I looked around the field we had been brought to. Even my head was spinning with all this new information. I had just met three new people and a sentient animal. We had also been introduced to a new problem: Odd and Sam had apparently been transported, somehow, to an alternative universe. Now we had to find a way to get them back, and the greatest minds... or whatever... were even having trouble with that.

"What traffic? There isn't any over dimensional traffic..." the woman called Ginda said.

"Give it twenty to thirty years... but you are right there isn't. I actually got caught with a separate chore. Anyway, there is only one way to get the children out of that hole."

"And that is?" I asked.

Everyone stared at me for a second and then the traveler continued. "We need someone whose powers match this universe's more than any of ours. There is only one person who can create a hole between universes, in this one, that I know of. His abilities are weak and he can only travel by dream, but, well..."

"What? Who is it?" I asked aggravated.

"You, Jeremie." He replied.

That nearly knocked me off of my feet. I had had no idea that it would have been me. I couldn't ever remember doing something like that, traveling to a different universe, but perhaps that was intentional. I didn't think that that would really pass in a 'normal' life...

"So what do I have to do?" I asked.

"Well, first I need permission to... _use_ you. Your natural abilities are the only thing that can open a portal to the place that your friends are being held."

"Again, what do you want me to do?" I reiterated.

"Fine, relax." He said, and I did so. "What I am going to do is temporarily enter your mind and your body. This won't hurt but you will be unable to move. There also shouldn't be any side effects. What I will do then is manipulate your energies and open a gateway to the only other alternative universe parallel to this one."

I suddenly heard an electrical crackle and felt a surge of energy as though I were being hit by lightening. My mind went numb and completely relaxed and I began watching what the traveler did. Slowly my mind shifted through memories and reflexes. I saw my most recent dreams flash by, then ones that I couldn't even remember having. Suddenly I found myself seeing the space around me, but it was mostly dark. There were flame like objects around me and I realized that they were the others. As I watched my mind began moving away from this area, and supposedly out of my body. I saw a flat barrier and suddenly went through it. Things began to get very strange after that as I was able to see everything at once. Every aspect of my universe, every atom and every view. I could see every part of the earth and all the other planets, not to mention every galaxy...

_Consider yourself lucky, Jeremie, not many humans are gifted with this sight. For that matter, not many life forms are. You are now among the rare few that have, or will ever..._

I found myself moving again and suddenly I saw a smaller universe. There were only two things in it. I began moving into it and found myself next to them. I knew that it must be Odd and Sam. Quickly I turned to a wall and placed a 'hand' up to it. The wall began to spiral inward and it became a hole. Turning back to the two I saw them falling through it and I quickly followed. Another surge of energy told me that the traveler had left my mind and I opened my eyes to find Odd and Sam lying on the ground unconscious.

"What happened to them?" Aelita asked.

"They ran out of air." Professor Giis said. "Sissi, if you please."

Sissi bent down to them and placed her hands above both of their chests. Lights began emerging from her hands and they entered their bodies. They slowly began to glow with a soft purple light and slowly opened their eyes. They inhaled and began coughing.

"That... was… fun..." Odd coughed. "Let's not... do it... again."

"So much for our date..." Sam said.

"That isn't a problem." The traveler replied. "I have already begun making this a thing of the past. You will be returned to the time before this happened and-"

"NO!" we all yelled at once.

"What?"

"Don't erase our memories, I for one am tired of being left in the dark." Ulrich nearly yelled.

"I agree," I said. "Besides, it seems that it is far more dangerous for us to not remember anything than it is for us to remember."

"Ok, point taken... that wasn't what I was going to say." The traveler replied. "Simply that you will be returned to the exact moment that we began interfering and everyone else will forget, not you. In fact, Jeremie, I offer you lessons. You need to understand your ability better."

"You would do that?" the three adults gasped.

"Well, we need one human traveler..." he said. "And I am no longer fully... Time's up."

I blinked and found myself in my room again. Aelita was sitting next to me and we were looking at the computer screen. The transition was so abrupt that I jumped when my eyes focused.

"Well, that was..."

"Interesting." Aelita finished my sentence. "Do you even remember what we were doing?"

"Not really..." I said and looked at the computer screen. The screen saver was active and I almost didn't dare to tap the mouse.

"Perhaps we should leave this for another time..." Aelita suggested.

"Good idea," I said moving my hand away from the mouse. "Want to get something to eat?"

"Sure."

We got up and began walking out of the room. Oddly enough we actually were hungry now, and we decided to go to the cafeteria. It was noon after all, and we should be having lunch at noon. We didn't want other students, or the teachers, to begin thinking that there was anything going on, not that they would be wrong...

When we arrived at the cafeteria we found Ulrich and Yumi already there. They were eating a light lunch and waved when they noticed us. We sat down in front of them and began eating our lunches. Together we sat in idle silence for a few moments...

"So, what do you think of our 'normal' life?" Ulrich asked.

"Hmn? Oh, yeah, if you can really call it normal..." I replied.

"I am still trying to get over how many people there were, just to save Odd and Sam..." Aelita said. "Just... when did we have that many friends? It's like we are being watched, by thousands of people, and we don't even know about it."

There was another silence when we all stared at one point. If there had been a camera I am sure we would have been looking right at it, but of course there wasn't. If anything this was probably a story, written story...

"Hey," Sissi said as she walked over to us. "Sorry about all of that. It isn't like they had planned on your friends getting captured. Oh, and we have a request, keep this a secret. It would be uncomfortable for us if this leaked out."

"Who are we going to tell it to?" Ulrich asked sarcastically. "It's not like anyone is going to believe us."

"He's right..." Yumi said. "Even if we wanted to tell anyone they would probably think we were insane."

"Look, they are sorry. Heck, _I'm_ sorry. If you hadn't already been involved in this then we would leave you out of it, but it was you who found Aelita-" she stopped and covered her mouth.

"What?" I asked rising up.

"Nothing..." Sissi replied.

"No, what did you say?" I asked harder.

"Nothing, I d-didn't say anything." She replied.

"You said that we _found_ Aelita. Take that back, she is just as _normal_ as the rest of us..." I trailed off realizing what I was saying. "At least... that's what we remember..."

There was short awkward pause where no one dared look at each other. I sat there as realization flooded over me. It was true, now that I thought about it, it _was_ true. The memories that we had were fabricated. Everything past a month or two ago was at least partially a lie. That was why Aelita didn't have any parents, she wasn't real... we had found her, in X.A.N.A.... X.A.N.A. The factory. That would prove it!

I stood up quickly nearly knocking the tray over. I had to get to the factory; there I could find the answer. I had to find the answer... I had to. I pushed past Sissi and ran out the cafeteria door towards the manhole that led to the factory. As I burst through the door I heard Sissi swear and Aelita call after me. I didn't care though, I had to find out. I had to find out if these memories were true or not.

I reached the man hole and jumped down it. I didn't even bother to climb; I just fell to the ground, luckily landing on my feet. I though I heard something behind me but I was too focused to turn and find out what; I kept running. I ran all the way to the other side, just in front of the factory where... I had met her... I literally flew through the door at the other end and ran across the bridge that was still invisible.

As I passed into the factory I felt the air change. I was suddenly able to see what was really there. Quickly I jumped and caught hold of one of the wires hanging from the ceiling. Once I reached the floor I ran into the elevator and saw who had been following me. Aelita walked into the elevator next to me panting.

"The others weren't able to follow, but I was…" she said. "Let's see what is down there."

I pressed the button and the door closed. The elevator lowered down the shaft and stopped. A keypad revealed itself and without thinking I keyed in a four digit number. The door opened and we saw the room. It was not really a large room; mostly filled with a holographic projector on the ground, and a chair that moved around it. I walked over to the chair and Aelita followed me. We looked at the screen and saw that it was already connecting to Lyoko. When it had finished I moved around through the interface a little and found the cards and the map to the virtual world. Suddenly a screen popped up showing a flashing red tower.

"A tower has been activated? But that's impossible. If X.A.N.A. is out here than how can that tower have been activated?" I said.

"Maybe... Maybe that is why X.A.N.A. is out here." Aelita said. "Maybe that is what all of this is, and illusion brought on by X.A.N.A."

"You mean that none of this is real?" I asked. "That everything we have seen up till now is a figment of a warped world constructed by X.A.N.A. to distract us?"

"He did it once before, why wouldn't he do it again?" she asked.

"But, then it wasn't a tower, then it was a guardian that held the virtual world." I said.

"True, but then you weren't in the virtual world with us; you were in the real world. What if X.A.N.A. needed to use the tower to get you as well."

I got out my cell phone and dialed Ulrich's phone number. He picked up and I said, "Ulrich, a tower has been activated."

"What? But how?" he asked.

"That's what I asked." I said. "Get here as soon as you can, and is Yumi with you?"

"Yes, she and I were trying to follow you when we lost you in the sewer."

"Good, I am going to call Odd."

"He is already on his way." Ulrich said.

"What? How?"

"He called me first and said that he had gotten a vision that a tower had been active. That's when we remembered everything." Ulrich said. "Jeremie, he is bringing Sam."

"Well, she disserves to be here as well..." I said.

"Of course I do." Sam's voice came through the elevator door. "You five are the one who brought me into this mess. I am going to help undo it."

Odd and Sam walked into the room and came over to us. They looked worried, as though they knew something really bad and we didn't. Suddenly Ulrich and Yumi walked in as well. They came down the latter that connected to the room behind the boiler room.

"Alright, we are all here, and we are all ready." Ulrich said. "Let's do this."

They walked into the elevator and headed down to the scanner room. Ulrich, Odd and Yumi got in first while Sam and Aelita waited. I began the scanner sequence. "Transfer Ulrich, transfer Yumi, transfer Odd. Scanner Ulrich, scanner Yumi, scanner Odd. Virtualization."

"Well, I sense that the end is near." Sissi said suddenly appearing in the elevator. "I would like to help, if you don't mind."

"Sissi, when did you get here?" I asked.

"You seem to have your memories back, that isn't a good sign. Well, like I said, if the end is drawing closer I want to take part in it. I owe you guys that much at least." She said.

The elevator door closed and she headed off to the scanner room as well. As soon as she reached it I started the next three. "Transfer Aelita, transfer Sam, transfer Sissi. Scanner Aelita, scanner Sam, scanner Sissi. Virtualization."

Each of them appeared on my screen and two new cards appeared. Ulrich the samurai, Yumi the geisha girl, Odd the cat-boy, Aelita the elf, Sissi the healer, and Sam the mages. They were all ready, and each had their own character, just like the 'good old days', but with two new allies. And it was a good thing too... we were about to need it.

* * *

Well, Jeremie and the others are now back at Lyoko getting ready to fight for their lives. They find out something remotely disturbing... and then a really bad thing happens. When your world comes crashing down around you, literally, you tend to panic... and when you find that your real world is in chaos, and death and destruction is everywhere you tend to loose hope... Find out what happens next to the children of Lyoko in the next chapter: The Really Bad Thing, That Happened...


	42. The Really Bad Thing, That Happened

Hello, hello. My chapters are about to get very dark as they end another climax. And I mean that literally and figuratively. My latest post, not this one but the next, was also probably one of the longest... Some people are going to die, some are going to live. But in the end... well, that would ruin it for you wouldn't it... I'll see you all in 'the end'.

* * *

Aelita:

"Guys, you have hundreds of monsters heading your way." Jeremie said. "It looks like blocks, megatanks, wasps, and roachsters aren't the only thing either. There is something that I don't recognize, and the computer doesn't know what it is."

"Uh, Jeremie, they all look the same..." Ulrich said.

"What, that's impossible; the screen shows different monsters..."

"No, seriously, they are all green wolf-like animals, and they look mad." I said.

There was a pause while Sissi and Sam appeared, their Lyoko characters being created for the first time. They fell to the ground, two magic users, and took one look at our enemy. I heard them gasp in shock and fear.

"Oh, no... We are surrounded by Aricitics." Sissi said.

Yumi blinked and looked at the enemy again; she jumped and said, "They are..."

"What?" I asked confused.

"They are Aricitics, an animal which has the ability to morph into whatever it gets a 'sample' from-the sample usually being DNA. The other ability that comes hand in hand is they share their form with what ever they get the DNA from... I am assuming that someone doesn't want us to get to that tower." Sam said.

We looked over the crowed of angry looking Aricitics. They were growling and baring their teeth, a green saliva dripping from their teeth. They looked mean, and I meant worse than anything I had ever seen in Lyoko before.

"So, um, how do they get that DNA?" Odd asked.

"Usually biting you..." Sam said. "And if that happens you become one of them. A lot like vampires or werewolves really, but with the ability to know, do, and look like anything you bite..."

"The traveler did this!" Ulrich said gripping his fists. "I saw one of these things with him earlier today."

"True, but I doubt that he would try to stop us like this, if he even had anything to do with it." Sissi said.

"Besides, the traveler wouldn't put X.A.N.A. symbols on their foreheads..." Sam said.

There was a pause as we all noticed a green X.A.N.A. mark on the foreheads of all of the green moving bodies. That mark was purely a X.A.N.A. mark, and I doubted anyone else would use it. This was likely a plot made by X.A.N.A. himself.

"As I thought," Jeremie said. "These past two months were all fake, created by X.A.N.A. to distract us while he was able to do as he pleased."

"Somehow I doubt that." Sam and Sissi said.

"Well, right now I'd believe almost anything." Ulrich said. "And as soon as we deactivate that tower the sooner we find out what the truth is."

"That would be a really strange ending for this story..." Sam said.

"Yeah," Sissi muttered. "Like one of the one's where a person goes on a great adventure and wakes up at the end..."

"I always hated those..." Sam replied. "But in any case, with any ending, how are we supposed to get past those?"

I looked back at the thousands of Aricitics that loomed on the other floating plateau. I suddenly realized that they had started rushing us, and they were running, jumping, or finding any other means of getting onto our side. It also seemed that every one of them made it...

"Watch out!" Yumi yelled.

The wave hit us a second later and mouth after mouth, claw after claw... stopped three inches in front of us. A green barrier was holding them back, and we each looked around to see who had done it, but no one with us had. I noticed a symbol that looked faintly familiar emanating from the barrier.

The Aricitics, seeing that they couldn't attack us this way, began to change. I saw the shape of a Block forming from one of them. The others became other monsters and they once again began their charge at us. This time they were able to make it past the barrier, but we _were_ ready for them.

Ulrich brought out his sward and Yumi her fan. Odd aimed a few laser arrows at the monsters, Sam created some colored balls of magical energy. Everyone but Sissi and I attacked at once hacking and slashing the monsters as they entered the barrier. Each time one of the monsters died a green ghost escaped the body and disappeared. As our friends got wounded Sissi healed them, and I made sure that we had cover in other ways, pulling up faux cliffs around us except for one point.

Slowly we made progress through the lines of rushing monsters. For some reason Odd didn't seem to run out of arrows, nor me energy to make the faux walls. In fact everyone seemed to have limitless energy, and we showed it as we made our way through X.A.N.A.'s monsters. As we reached the end, virtually unscathed, and saw the tower sitting in plain sight, we made a break for it.

We ran into the tower leaving the last remaining monsters behind. Once inside everyone waited at the bottom as I floated to the top. I stepped on the top platform and walked to the dialogue screen. Placing my hand on the pad, I saw my name appear and I began keying in Lyoko...

"Aelita! Wait!" Jeremie yelled just as I put in the 'k'.

"Jeremie, what is it?" I asked.

"It's a trap..." came the traveler's voice as he suddenly appeared.

"You, why did you set up this trap?" I asked my voice only showing part of the rage that I felt.

"I didn't..." he said. "And X.A.N.A. didn't either. Xanadu isn't simply himself anymore. When I saw the Aricitics I knew it. This has gotten out of hand, my enemy has fused himself with your enemy. And I made him a god... I am so stupid!"

"But, what is the trap then?" I asked.

"If you deactivate this tower, you will start a chain reaction causing all computers to crash, including the one containing this world. That would completely free Xanadu in your earth and he would be able to wreak havoc on your world. What's even worse is that if he is free that makes my enemy free as well, and all the evil that is contained in him would be free to once again roam the universes with the powers that _I gave_ him... it was a bad oversight when I first planned this."

"But, what does this mean?" I asked.

"This tower was activated by the scientists that created Lyoko and you. It was made as a firewall, both into and out of Lyoko. If it was ever deactivated X.A.N.A. would have been able to get back onto the internet."

"But he already was..." I said.

"Not like this. If the firewall was deactivated he would have been able to fully move himself into every other computer on earth and off... There would have been no stopping him," He laughed. "Much like an event in another universe, an insane super-virus takes over the military and nearly kills all humanity..."

"So... what should I do?" I asked.

"None of you are ready for the fight against Xanadu. Wait until then, we can destroy him and I will imprison Antavok once again. At that point I will leave, leaving you all to live your lives as you choose to. I have already done enough damage to this world. For that I am sorry..."

"And what if I don't believe you?" I asked moving my hand back to the panel.

"Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?" he asked.

"Um..." I said taking my time, watching him squirm.

Suddenly a dark cloud, which X.A.N.A. used to possess things, appeared in the tower. It formed a hand and reached for me. The traveler panicked and pushed me out of the way knocking my hand against the panel. I hit the 'o' finishing Lyoko and suddenly everything became very dark...

On the outside of Lyoko a black smoke came from the factory. A cloud above it began swirling down to meet it forming a tornado. Darkness began emanating from the factory itself breaking through the spell and making it visible once again. The cloud overhead extended outward engulfing the sky over the city and shocks of lightening flashed through the sky.

Over at Kaidac School, Professor Giis, or rather Gwyosis, gathered up the children and brought them into the science building. As they passed the sealed room the door exploded off of it at the children. The professor stopped the door with his body, thinking quickly but not very wisely, and as he got up he yelled for the children to run to his room. The children complied running for their lives as black fog began to seep out of the room.

In the rest of the city gigantic lightening bolts hit the ground everywhere as the black tornado grew larger and larger. It quickly engulfed the entire river, it and the clouds sucking up all the light in the city except for the lightening. As people ran through the streets trying to escape they were incinerated by the bolts of lightening, growing to sizes of busses and buildings. The entire city began to level itself from the lightening strikes, the winds, floods, and seismic activity.

Back in the school, in the science lab which Gwyosis had taught, the teachers, faculty and students cowered in the center of the room. The only one who seemed to know anything about what was going on was Professor Giis himself, and all he was able to do was hold the room together. Darkness engulfed the walls around them threatening to break through the small barrier that he had created.

All life in the city, and within a thirty mile radius around it, was eliminated within half an hour. The only survivors were the people in the one class room, and the people not on earth. Everything, absolutely everything, was leveled to the ground. The rubble burning under a dark green flame.

Within the remainder of Lyoko, the lone tower which had been used as the firewall, the children stood bewildered by what was happening around them. Jeremie had appeared in Lyoko, in his Magician's guise. Everything had become pitch black, except for a small light created by Sam.

The children looked at each other afraid to speak, afraid to even move. They stood in awful silence as they tried to make sense of what was happening around them. No one spoke, at least until finally the two who had been on the top of the tower came down to meet them. Aelita and the traveler had grim looks on their faces, ones that matched Jeremie's. They looked at the others and finally the traveler spoke.

"Well, judgment day has arrived. All hell has broken loose in the city on earth, and Lyoko is being annihilated as we speak. I am doing everything in my power to keep us here, but holding back a dying universe is nearly impossible, even for me..."

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Ulrich asked.

"I will take us out of Lyoko and we will face Xanadu. It is all we can do, but..." he paused. "It's too early, I don't know if we will be able to beat him. He has as much power as I do if Antavok truly has fused with him. I am sorry children, but there is very little I can do now. I didn't really survive our last battle, and if he is a 'god' now... well..."

The children and the traveler were transported to the real world. They looked around them, at the destruction and death they were surrounded with. Death was in the air, hatred, revenge, and pure evil... it was so thick that the children could not only smell it but could taste it as well...

Off in the distance they were able to see one faint light, and this is where they headed. None of them could possibly expect what they were about to find, and none of them would ever forget what they were about to see. The sight would redefine horror as they knew it, haunting them for the rest of their lives...

* * *

Things have gotten very dark. The city that the children once knew no longer exists. It is now just a pile of rubble. The only people remaining are held alive by a barrier that a weakening professor is holding up... When that fails... and the professor is at death's door the traveler gets a little strange... See how he reacts and what happens to the children as they continue their quest to bring down X.A.N.A. in the next chapter Shadows of Difficulty. 


	43. Shadows of Difficulty

With the city destroyed the children have nothing more to do than end the feud with Xanadu. How will they defeat him, how will they survive the darkness, will everyone survive? The only way to find out is to read on...

* * *

Ulrich:

We looked around the decimated city. There were no buildings left standing just the broken and twisted remains of them scattered across the city. As far as we could see there was no life left either, except for a faint glow coming from where the school used to be. We all looked at it with varying emotions. What ever it was may be the last living things in France. We started running to it in a chaotic way, desperate to see who survived. We didn't know what we would find, and I wasn't sure if we wanted to, but in a blind sick passion we ran.

I felt sick inside, I knew we had been tricked. Everything had gone wrong, everything had gone to hell. If only we had avoided this, if only we had listened. But, it wasn't entirely our fault, even when we didn't try to fight the battle it still came to us. Now we were dead center in the battle and there was nothing any of us could do to change that. X.A.N.A., Xanadu, or what ever, would pay for doing this. We would get revenge! We would...

As we crossed into what had been the school grounds we saw what remained of the science building. Everything had been stripped down except for one room. It was being held up by a glowing green barrier, but the barrier was failing against the shadows that were attacking it. I knew, and I was sure that everyone else knew that it would break soon.

The walls disinterested and we were able to see the people in it. It was the school faculty and the students. They all seemed frightened; including one very tired looking Professor Giis. He was holding his arms out and the green light was emanating from it. I could see that he looked like he was about to collapse.

The traveler began running as soon as he saw the condition that the Professor was in. As he ran the sky above the very spot that the others were in began to glow a sick pail yellow. Suddenly a beam of light nearly fifty feet in diameter struck the barrier and I heard a sick noise which I would never be able to describe. It was all the traveler could do to shield us against it and even Sam and Sissi had to help with that.

When the light faded he ran to see if there were any survivors. We followed him and saw, to our horror that there were none except for Professor Giis and he was nearly gone as well. The traveler picked up his torn and incapacitated body and held up his head. The professor looked at him and said, "You idiot, you god damn idiot. Call everyone else, we need to end this now!" the professor stopped and coughed up blood... "If we don't... everything that you and the rest of us have worked so hard to achieve will be destroyed."

"Rest, Gwyosis, rest. We will take care of it."

Professor Giis, or rather Gwyosis, closed his eyes and the traveler placed his hand directly on the center of Gwyosis's chest. For a second I thought that the traveler was going to try healing him, but then I saw to my horror that was not the case. A blue-red light emanated from his and into Gwyosis's body and slowly Gwyosis began to mutate. His body turned into more of a liquid than a solid and was absorbed by the traveler.

"What the hell did you do?" I demanded.

"I just saved his life. He was created from me, and to save him that is where he had to return." He responded not moving. "Now we have to kill Xanadu."

He quickly stood up and stretched out his arms. Light began emanating around him and the strange outfit that we had met him in created itself around him. His symbol appeared on the ground glowing in the darkness brought on by Xanadu. Suddenly lights that looked like lightening began to form all around him and waves of light emanated off all around his body. I felt a surge of energy as the light; or rather his energy hit me. I felt power, strength, wisdom and understanding flowing through my body and I knew that the same was happening to the others.

Suddenly we began to change, growing into the adult forms that we had been within the changed Lyoko that we had first gone to. I felt all the knowledge of how to use the abilities that I naturally had, and more flow into my mind. Power, this was true power.

I looked around me and saw that the others were, like me, grown. They were each wearing some kind of elaborate robe, or something. In their eyes I saw the same thing that I now felt. The power to do nearly anything...

We looked back at the traveler and saw that he had barely moved. The energy flowing around him had grown but other than that there was little difference. Suddenly there was another surge of energy and I suddenly heard a voice speaking in many different languages. _By my name, and by my deeds, I call upon all those that I have helped. For the third time, I ask for your assistance, for your aid in what I must do now. Please grant me the power that I seek, the power that I need..._

There was a surge of light and energy, but for some reason I was still able to see through it at the traveler. He was changing, both physically and metaphysically. The energy was holding up his hair, cape and cloak. It looked almost like he was on fire... The symbol beneath him began to change, the outsides spreading out forming other parts of a larger circle. I could see text within them, words marking what universe they represented. I didn't know where that knowledge came from, but I suddenly understood exactly what he was doing.

The center symbol, GASAN, as he referred to it as, was changing, oblique lines were growing along the side of the 'S' forming an 'A'. As the letter finished there was another flash and surge and everything about him began to change. His hair dropped spreading along the rest of his body changing cloth to flesh and fur. His muscles bulged as the transformation passed by them, and his legs cracked backward. The four wings grew together forming two larger one's and his cape and cloak formed three tails. His face changed as his mouth stretched outward and became more dog like. His fingers grew as claws were formed. Once he had finished he had grown nearly twice the size and looked incredibly frightening. _Ultimate form of power... _he said. _Absolute God Arisiticen._

He turned around to look at us. We had gone through a transformation as well, but we had stayed as humans. It was as if twenty to thirty years had passed in those few moments. We all felt stronger, older... I didn't know what was in store for us but I felt that, like this, we could handle it.

I looked down at my hands and barely focused at all, a small orb of light appeared. I moved my hand around it and gripped and the orb grew into a sword. The sward felt familiar, but this was not the one that I had used in Lyoko. This one was far stronger than a simple samurai sward. I could feel my energy pulsing through it, my self... It truly was an extension of my body; of my entire being.

I looked around at the others; they had each formed a weapon of their own. Our weapons were very similar to the ones that we used in Lyoko, but for Odd and the others that didn't use visible weapons I could see a small glowing orb floating above one or both hands.

_Well, children, how do you like your adult forms. These are who you will become. This power will be yours forever some day, but for now you just have it so that we can finish what we started... Xanadu is waiting, he is all around us, but like all things, living or other wise, he has a weakness. We will find it and finish this once and for all. _He said._ But be careful Xanadu is using monsters that are as dark as the rest of the space around us. He has full control over everything around us except you and me... trust nothing._

"But, where should we go?" Odd asked. "To fight something that is everywhere..."

"Odd, don't you feel that?" Yumi asked.

"Feel what?"

"There is a pulsating in the ground and air..." Aelita said.

"It's not coming from all around us, but from one direction." Sam agreed.

"That way!" Sissi said pointing. "I can feel it coming from there."

We all looked where she was pointing. Most of us felt it, in some way or another. It felt like a heart beat or something similar. I couldn't explain it, but I knew that it was coming from something alive, something powerful. We started walking in the direction that we felt it from, and as we took a few steps Odd suddenly felt it as well.

_Wait, just a moment._ The traveler said._ We have three guests that have not arrived yet._

"Who?" Jeremie asked.

"Who indeed." Said a female voice.

I looked over to where the traveler had been standing. He had walked out of the circle that he had created and a woman appeared. I suddenly recognized her as Ginda, but she looked so much younger. I didn't understand how...

She stepped out of the circle and another body appeared. This body wasn't human, and I realized that it was Gwiaris. He walked out of the circle and another body appeared. This I knew was Gwydevis. As he appeared and saw our surroundings he fell to his knees and placed his face in his hands. It almost looked like he was weeping.

"No, it can't have come to this... not again, not again!" he yelled.

Ginda walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. He stood up and walked over to the edge of the circle. Slowly the circle disappeared and the light from it faded. The only light remaining was emanating from the traveler himself. His form was giving off energy, heat and light as though it was really on fire.

"Ok, we are ready Gwydion." Ginda said and held up both of her hands.

The traveler and she put their hands together and suddenly Ginda disappeared into the traveler just as Gwyosis had. Gwydevis was next and he disappeared into the traveler. Then Gwiaris began to morph, he became another thing like the traveler and did the same as the other two. Once they had all been absorbed by the traveler he looked at us.

_Now, let's go._ He said.

We began walking towards the pulsating beat. As we moved it naturally got stronger, but we began to feel other pulses. The traveler, who was walking behind us, told us to ignore the others and follow the first one which we had felt. We did and slowly more and more pulses appeared. It became almost deafening, except it wasn't just sound...

_Focus on the one and block out the rest. Just focus your self on the one._ He said. _When you no longer pay attention to the others they will disappear._

I focused all my senses on the original pulse and slowly the others did disappear. When we had all blocked them out we continued towards the original pulse. We didn't realize for a few minutes what the other pulses had actually been until suddenly…

"Ah!" Odd yelped as he fell to the ground. "Help."

We all stopped and looked over at him, but couldn't see what was attacking him. What ever it was it was simply a shadow within a shadow. We were helpless against something we couldn't see. Unfortunately for Odd, because he was the first to be attacked...

_DON'T PANIC!_ The traveler yelled. _If you panic then they will attack you as well. These are the evils of humanity, low level spirits that attack those who have committed them. If you panic and succumb to temptation then you will loose. The only way to get past them is to relax and forgive others sins and your own..._

"So why is it attacking Odd?" I asked. "What did he do?"

_I don't have all the answers._ He said.

Fed up I ran over to Odd and swung my sword, it appeared to hit Odd but instead slashed through a shadow figure. I heard a howl and the shadow disappeared. Odd got up and looked around. He blinked a few times and said, "Uh, I think we are in trouble..."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Look, see with your mind not your eyes; you can 'see' them. Uh, it's hard to explain...

I closed my eyes and looked around us. Suddenly I felt the pulsations again, and focusing on the beats individually I was able to see the creatures. There were thousands of them and they were all standing around a border; not daring to pass through it. I looked back at the traveler and saw that they were in a radius around _him_; not daring to get near _him_.

_Perhaps I was wrong..._ He said. _They aren't acting as they should..._

"They attacked Odd because he was to close to the border." Yumi said.

"Yeah, well, maybe this will get rid of them." Odd said and began firing into the mess of shadows.

Little points of light shot out of Odd's wrists and flew into the darkness. They passed through shadows and exploded. I heard screams as the shadows were killed, or destroyed or whatever... Odd kept firing around the circle and the shadows began to recede. Yumi threw the discus she had into the shadows and it flew around getting more of them. Soon it was an all out battle around me. Everyone that could attack from within the circle did killing as many of the shadows as they could.

"They are retreating!" Odd yelled.

_Well, I would expect someone who plays video games to know what's coming next..._ the traveler said.

"A point bonus? An extra life?" Odd asked grinning.

"No, bigger monsters!" Sam yelled pointing.

I looked to where she was pointing and saw a much larger shadow looming just outside of the barrier. It was about our size, where as the others had been about the size of a ten year old. It was looking in at us, its eyes glowing... Really I shouldn't say that I saw it, more like sensed it. The only part of it that I could see was its glowing eyes.

Suddenly it raised a 'fist' and smashed it against the wall. There was a flash of light and a ripple where it hit but nothing more. It seemed that these monsters couldn't pass through the barrier either. More came up and began hitting the barrier trying to get to us.

_Lost souls._ The traveler said. _Just ignore them._

As we began walking the lost souls continued to beat on the barrier. It was frightening at first but then I began to get used to it. Soon enough we were walking along ignoring it; the banging and flashes just nuisances in the back of our minds. I closed my eyes and allowed my other senses to guide me. It was so dark anyway that sight wasn't really much use. Besides, the enemy that we were fighting was shadow against darkness, impossible to see...

We slowly grew nearer to the pulsations. But as we grew nearer the lost souls grew thicker and thicker. Suddenly we heard a screaming roar and the ground shook. I 'looked' over to where the sound had come from and 'saw' a much larger shadow. This one was at least twice the size as the others. It rushed the barrier and smashed into it with all of its might. The barrier shook and I felt a wave of energy flood by me as an after shock. Then I noticed that there was shadow creeping into the barrier. It was coming from where the larger creature was. Another roar told us that there was more than one...

* * *

The children of Lyoko are surrounded now. The shadows can't exactly get to them, at least not entirely. The children freak out and attack the shadows destroying many of them. Seeing their opportunity they make a break for it and fill in the gaps that they clear. But what happens when you destroy a shadow is simply that it comes back, more powerful than before, as the children find out the hard way. Yumi will find a great power, and Ulrich will loose something very precious to him... The next chapter Shadow, Death, and Rebirth. 


	44. Shadow, Death, and Rebirth

With the city destroyed the children have nothing more to do than end the feud with Xanadu. How will they defeat him, how will they survive the darkness, will everyone survive? The only way to find out is to read on...

* * *

Yumi:

We were in a barrier that was keeping shadow creatures at bay; there were thousands of them trying to get to us. Now some really big ones had come and begun attacking the barrier. They seemed to be having much more of an effect than the others had, and they were managing to get that effect through the barrier.

Dark mist flew through the inside of the barrier as the shadow creatures continued to bang against it. The mist wasn't doing us any harm... yet. I knew, though, that it would soon enough. If enough of the mist, or fog, or smoke for that matter, entered the barrier it could suffocate us. So, before that happened we had to do something.

_I believe that now would be a good time for you children to start fighting back._ The traveler said.

"Oh, and what about you?" Ulrich snapped back.

_Not yet... I am saving my energy for the real monster..._ he replied.

"And that would be?"

_The one who is with Xanadu, the one which I have still been unable to destroy. Antavok, my opposite._ He replied.

"Are you telling me that this is a grudge match?" Ulrich shrieked.

_HA! If only it was that simple._ He said. _No, Ulrich, this fight is far beyond your understanding. It is literally a fight of good against evil. Antavok is literally my opposite; where I seek to help people, he seeks to make trouble and harm them. He is everything evil about me, and I am everything good about him... We are stuck in a thick balance of yin and yang, a balance which cannot be broken so easily or I will die with him._

"Damn that's arrogant!" Ulrich yelled. "You expect me to believe that bullshit?"

_I don't care if you believe me. Whether or not you do doesn't change the fact that it **is** true. I started this mess so many years ago when I created him... if only I had **known**._

I thought about that for a moment. If what the traveler was saying was indeed true and this _Antavok_ was in fact his yang in a Zen balance, then if either of them were destroyed that would leave a hole to be filled by another. Assuming that this was true, and that the traveler had acquired all the power that he appeared to, and if Antavok truly was equal to him, then destroying Antavok would create an unbalance which would have to be filled. If that happened then one of two things would take effect; either the traveler would be destroyed as well, or the evil from Antavok would take over within his body. It made sense, on a Zen belief...

"Wait," I said. "I seem to recall hearing about a battle that you two had already fought. If this is true, and you won, than how is he still alive?"

_I didn't kill Antavok._ The traveler said. _I merely stripped him of his power, and thus created Gwydevis. Gwydevis is another form of Antavok, but one that originated from me. He is the negative power to my positive... Yumi, I see you understand what I am talking about._

"Well, I try to learn and understand Japanese culture..." I said humbly. "But I thought that most of that was just myth."

He laughed, and laughed hard. _Child, look around you. These are the things that would put you into a mental hospital. Everything that is considered fictional is true, at the very least somewhere. I have seen far more than you could ever imagine, terrible things, wonderful things... Nothing is impossible, not with a nearly endless existence such as this... How else would you explain all of **this**?_

He was right; if everything that I had seen and was still seeing was actually there then there was really no reason to assume that anything else was false. But, if it was all there then we still had the matter of getting past it, and the easiest way of doing that was to get rid of it. The shadow creatures weren't going to leave us alone any time soon, so the only way to get rid of them was to destroy them.

I opened up a discus and threw it into the crowd of shadow creatures. It slashed through continuous shadow until the energy in it ran out. I had barely made a dent in the number of shadows that were surrounding us. I needed help, and that's where the others started...

"Attack!" Ulrich yelled and everyone began throwing everything they could at the enemy.

I saw flash after flash as arrows, balls, and other forms of energy weapons were shot into the darkness. We began creating a hole, a gap where no shadow was able to exist. From within the hole I was able to _see_ ground. I could see what remained of this part of the city, and realized that we were following a street... I looked around us and then realized just how thick our opponent had us cornered...

We began running forward desperate to fill the gap with ourselves before the shadows got to it. We continued our attack as we ran trying to clear more space to get to. After ten minutes of continuous fire we began to wear out and slowed to a stop. Dropping to the ground, panting, we rested... No one had enough energy to really move, no one except the traveler and he materialized drinks and food for us.

_You have done well, but the hardest part is yet to come. The creatures that you have destroyed have been absorbed by those that you didn't. They are forming larger, more powerful creatures... the good news is that we are nearly there. Our journey has nearly come to an end, but the true fight has only just begun._

I was feeling better, nearly revived, as he spoke. The food and drink had helped quite a bit, but it was also the words, that we were nearly to the end... I looked around and saw that the morale had risen. We all seemed ready to fight, that was until we realized what the traveler had meant by bigger and stronger. I heard a deafening screaming roar from near by. I quickly covered my ears and closed my eyes. Sensing around me I suddenly saw something horrifying. There was a shadow creature that was larger than a two story building, and it wasn't simply shadow any more. It had taken on a physical form... I could see an extended mouth, long arms and legs, a very long tail, and a body like a buss. Its hands were as big as my body, and its mouth was almost as big as its hands...

It began moving our way. The ground erupted like an earthquake as it walked. I began wondering, hoping, that the barrier would hold it at bay. I preyed, but I knew that it wouldn't. The shadow demon moved up to the barrier and raised one of its claws. With one swing it crashed through as though the barrier wasn't even there. The claw pounded into the ground where I had been, but I wasn't there any more. Ulrich had run into me, pushing me aside. He had saved my life, yet I was still too stunned, too frightened to do anything.

_So much for the aura holding them back..._ the traveler said._ Guess I really will have to use a barrier._

"What, you mean that wasn't a barrier?" Sissi scratched narrowly missing a claw.

_If it had been a barrier it would have taken longer to move..._ he said. _Besides, I need to save my energy..._

"Damn it, so what the hell are we supposed to do?" Ulrich yelled.

"The only thing that is left," I said. "Fight."

I began lifting up some rubble that was lying on the ground. If this creature was fully physical then I should be able to hurt it normally. I threw the shards of buildings at it and they stuck in its body. Roaring in response it focused its attack again on me taking a swing of one of its humungous fists. This time I was prepared though, and I had created two discuses in both hands. As its claw came towards me, about to grab my body, I threw the discuses at it slicing it four ways.

But this didn't have the effect I had expected, as the demon continued to reach for me. It picked me up and squeezed me in its hand. I felt my body being crushed by the force and the wind was knocked out of me. Everything began going black as I stopped breathing.

"Yumi, NO!" Ulrich yelled seeing her being picked up by the shadow demon.

He used triplicate and formed three of himself, then quickly ran at the demon. Jumping one of him landed on its arm and ran towards Yumi, another one stuck its sword in the back and slashed using his weight to make the cut; the third ran to the other arm and began cutting as he went. The beast reacted by throwing the third off of its arm, and grabbing the second off of its back. The two Ulrichs were knocked onto the ground and they faded into lights that went back to the first.

The first, and original Ulrich ran to Yumi and cut into its hand. A bright white cut appeared on the beasts hand as Ulrich's blade slashed through it. The demon roared and its other arm made its way for Ulrich, but Ulrich was ready with his sword and slashed it through the other hand making it drop to the ground. Believing he had won he returned his focus to Yumi and continued hacking at the demon's hand. Behind him the demon was opening its mouth and sucking in the shadow creatures; as it did so its hand grew back. Suddenly, in one quick move, the demon ripped Ulrich off its arm with its teeth and spat him out into the circle where the others stood. The demon returned its focus to Yumi and suddenly shadow creatures flew up around her. They began entering her body through her nose, mouth and eyes.

"Oh, god, Xanadu is trying to take control of her!" Sissi yelled.

_Maybe it is Xanadu, but I doubt it. It is more likely that Antavok is seeking the ultimate powers in this universe. Once he has them he will move on trying to regain what I took from him..._ the traveler said.

"Do something, goddamn it!" Ulrich yelled sputtering up blood; Sissi had already begun healing him.

_No, just wait. I sense Yumi's true power is about to awaken._

"What the hell are you talking about, he is killing her!"

_Exactly... When a creature's life is threatened it will always fight back with all it has... For Yumi that will be by awakening her true power. Once that happens she will be unstoppable, even by my standards..._

"God, what the hell are you rambling about?" Ulrich screamed, "What power? Don't we already have all the power that is ours?"

_No, none of you have your true power, just what I was able to give to you that quickly. I would have had to work with you for years to awaken that... or you would have to nearly die... _the traveler told them calmly. _I know this because when I was still mostly human it happened three times. On the third I was able to finally control my power absolutely._

"Your last battle with..." Sissi said.

"But then, is this your full power?" Sam asked in awe.

_I do not mean to seem arrogant but no. My true power is far greater than what you see now. You wouldn't be able to see me as my true self._ He said. _But Yumi will, during her first initial awakening she will..._

"So, when the hell is this awakening supposed to happen?" Ulrich screamed.

Slowly Yumi exhaled her last breath and stopped struggling all together. She didn't move at all as the shadows fully began taking her over... the children's hopes fell as they saw their friend die. Ulrich had to be held down from attacking both the traveler and the demon at the same time.

But it was not over. Suddenly Yumi's body jerked and the shadows stopped. Her heart started up again and her eyes opened. Her eyes were glowing a light golden blue as though they were on fire with it. She slowly turned to the shadow demon and he body pulsated again. Blue-gold flames burst all around her as a ball of light consumed the area just around her body. The arm holding her up began to burn off as the light engulfed the shadow and suddenly with a burst of energy directed at the demon itself it was completely incinerated with the light.

Yumi dropped to the ground and golden-blue flames erupted from around her feet. She stood up fully and stretched her limbs cracking her bones back into place. Slowly she turned to face the traveler and disappeared. The traveler disappeared at the same moment and all the other children could hear was the rush of air and all they could see was the effects of gold-blue explosions.

* * *

Enraged by the traveler's arrogance, and with her new found power, Yumi attacks. The traveler tries to passively calm her down, but fails... fatally. With the traveler gone and Yumi out cold how will the others fend off the shadows? Find out in the next chapter "The Mistake". 


	45. The Mistake

Just a little gloating. I don't normally do this, and I might not ever do it again, but I thought I would mention some of the... Really, really, really, absolutly nice things that people have said...

Little Vili: "This story is giving me the willies... ...The story is overall amaxing... ...Reading this always leaves me without breath and I wish to see more soon."

Julcia-Dark: "You know, I created an account just to review your story..."

sohowisYumi2181: "cool! very erie! I cannot think of anything to critizize you on, but please (x 45) make/post the next chapter soon!..."

And finally (For now at least):   
Little Vili: "Sorry I didn't review in a long time... ...Anyway, I think you have done a very good job. It seems like you could even publish this as a book (id buy it.)..."

Thank you all so much. I am so happy that you have given me such great reviews. I am so proud that you love my story so much... Thank you, and now for the thing you have all been wating for, me to shut up, and the story.

* * *

Narrator:

On a scale far beyond what the normal eye can see and far beyond what normal electronics can handle the traveler fended off Yumi. She changed, her true power had awoken, and being the strongest 'power' in the universe, she was nearly a match for the traveler to handle. They flew through space as Yumi tried to beat the traveler to a pulp.

_You let them kill me!_ Yumi yelled. _I trusted you, we all trusted you, and you let them kill me!_

_Only so you could become what you are now, Yumi. Without this you would never be able to even take on Xanadu, let alone win. I did what I had to because we ran out of time. What was supposed to happen was Gwyosis would train you until you were ready, then I would finish and this would have been awoken naturally. Instead, you had to do it this way. This way is never easy, and it always leaves people in a state of shock and rage..._

Yumi placed her hands together and pulled them apart about three inches; a blinding golden-blue light appeared in it and began to grow. She looked at the traveler and smiled a wicked smile. Raising the ball above her head the ball grew ten feet in diameter and she threw it directly at the traveler. The traveler didn't even bother to move, but instead put out one of his hands and simply stopped the mass of energy. Suddenly the energy spiraled down into his hand and disappeared.

_You are wasting your time and energy._ He said. _Meanwhile your friends are left alone without anyone to help them against the shadow demons. We shouldn't be fighting but working together to take down Xanadu._

_But that isn't what you really want is it? All you really want to do is take down your enemy, Antavok, or whatever. Why should I help you when you aren't really here to help us?_ Yumi asked creating another mass ball.

_Because I actually came here to help you and your friends.__ I had no intention in involving you all in my war. This simply got out of hand..._ he said. _I am truly sorry that it has gone this far, but believe me, I really tried to give you all a happy life. At the very least until it was time for you five to destroy X.A.N.A._

_Somehow I don't believe you._ Yumi said raising the ball above her head. The ball grew to ten feet in diameter again, but continued. It grew pass fifty feet and suddenly imploded on itself condensing to a ball about the size of her fist. Around the ball was a faint blue glow. This she threw directly at the traveler again.

The traveler watched as the ball came at him and created a small ball of his own. The ball he created was a very dark grey and distorted the 'light' around it. When the two balls collided the traveler's ball engulfed Yumi's canceling it out.

_Yumi, this is pointless, you can't defeat me. I have believed in balance for billions of years and thusly have studied both so called dark and so called light magic. I know how to counteract anything that you throw at me. If you would only calm down we could finish this fight where it really needs to be done, against Xanadu. If you continue fighting me there is a greater chance that he will kill one of your friends._

Suddenly Yumi vanished in a blur. The traveler calmly held his ground until from all directions thousands of little balls of many different colors appeared directed at him. He calmly blocked each one of them, stopping them by knocking them aside. As the balls grew bigger he began to have to use a barrier to defend one side while he blocked another. He was beginning to weaken when suddenly Yumi reappeared in front of him and stabbed him in the stomach with a spike of energy. The traveler stopped moving, his barrier disappeared and he was hit with everything that Yumi had thrown at him. He vanished, defeated, and Yumi returned to real space...

Ulrich and the others were standing around wondering what was going on. All they could see was flashes of light, explosions and a few other things, but they really didn't know who was winning, or even who was fighting. They watched the sky's blankly and tried to guess where the two 'super' powers were.

Suddenly Yumi landed on the ground breathing hard, the rage fading from her eyes. She looked at the others and began to collapse completely spent. Her energy drained from her during the last part of the fight she had just had. Ulrich ran over to catch her as she fell and the others followed. Ulrich caught Yumi just as she reached the ground and he held her in his arms.

"What happened?" Ulrich asked. "And where is the traveler?"

"I killed him..." Yumi whispered her eyes growing heavy.

"You what?!" everyone yelled at once.

"Yumi, I hated the traveler, but..." Ulrich began.

"Ulrich, he was nothing but a lying bastard. In the end..." Yumi said fading fast into sleep.

"Yumi, wait, hold on." Ulrich said.

Yumi closed her eyes and began to sleep. Her breathing grew heavy and she went limp. Ulrich sat down and rested her body on his so she wouldn't have to lye on the rubble. He sighed and looked at the others.

"What do we do now?" he asked. "If she is asleep we can't continue, not until she wakes up..."

"True..." Jeremie said, "So maybe we should join her. We have had a very difficult day and we all need rest."

"Here, with that _thing_ on the loose? Are you mad?" Odd yelled.

"I can create a crude barrier." Sissi said. "And possibly a fire as well."

"And I can help." Sam agreed. "If we can keep the barrier up then we should be fine."

"Alright," Ulrich said, taking command. "You two begin work on this barrier. We will need something to burn for the fire... and we may want shelter. If we are going to be stuck here all night, or day, or what ever time it is... we will want to have something to sleep under."

"How do you expect us to make a shelter?" Odd asked. "All that is around us is rubble of the city, and everything is charred."

"Well, we can look for pieces that are large enough to put together." Ulrich said.

"Aelita and I can find building materials." Jeremie said. "Then we can begin building what we can make of a shelter..."

"I'll go with them," Odd said. "I have to make myself useful somehow..."

"Well, that takes care of all of us. We should get this done as fast as possible." Ulrich said. "I don't want to have to worry about any shadow demons or shadow creatures, or whatever, attacking us out of the blue. You have your orders, now go."

In the time of crisis Ulrich was beginning to take on the leadership skills that he had always had. He was beginning to act like the adult whose body he was in. The others now began looking up to him for support and guidance, and they did what they were told quickly and readily. They all knew that they had to survive, and they knew that to do that now they would have to really work together. What they didn't know was that the rest of France and in fact the rest of the world had begun to find out about the things going on around Paris. They were preparing military action to fight what ever they found in the thick black clouds...

* * *

Ulrich takes charge and begins to lead the others. Sam and Sissi build a barrier to block out the monsters as they prepare to take a rest while Yumi lies in deep sleep. While Sam and Sissi are building it Odd, Jeremie and Aelita leave to take a look around. Odd finds some useful supplies but is unable to bring them back... When Sam, Odd, Ulrich and Sissi go to pick up the supplies they find out something very unforgiving... Find out what will the children's next discovery in "Rain". 


	46. Rain

For once I think I may be out of blurbs to put up here... Oh well... I guess you will just have to be satisfied with the story...

* * *

Sam: 

Sissi and I were working together trying to best figure out how to set up a permanent barrier. We had already set up a small temporary one around Ulrich, Yumi and ourselves, but we knew that we would need a bigger one. What we couldn't decide was how big it should be. We wanted it to be big enough to accommodate all of us but we knew that it had to be small enough to be able to hold off all the enemies that had been created. Finally we agreed on twenty square feet.

The way that we intended to create this barrier was with four objects that the traveler had given us while we were learning from him. They were four crystal objects that gave off a continuous form of energy. We had decided to place this in the four corners that would make up the twenty by twenty feet barrier. This would give us the strength and energy we would need to generate such a strong barrier.

We started cattycorner, Sissi walking off in one direction, and I walked in the other. We both walked about as far as we believed we should and placed the crystals down on the ground. We then walked to our right and placed the other crystal in the opposite areas forming the square. To finish the spell we did what the traveler had shown us to create a barrier. Creating wall like structures between the crystals and then linking them to the crystals we were able to place a barrier up that was strong enough to be seen.

Once we were done we went back to Ulrich and Yumi. Ulrich was still sitting on the ground with Yumi lying comfortably on him. He looked up when we approached him and said, "Is it done?"

"See for yourself," I said pointing at one of the visible walls.

"Good, now, are you sure that Odd, Jeremie and Aelita will be able to get through that?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, Jeremie should." Sissi said. "If he really is what the traveler said he is."

"You mean another traveler?" Ulrich asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means," I said. "That he has the ability to go into other universes at will. From what I have heard he can only do it in his dreams right now, and has a limited range, but he should be able to pass through the barrier."

"Good, because here they come."

I turned around and saw the three of them walking towards the barrier. Odd walked into it and acted like he had walked into a brick wall. Jeremie put his hand up against it, pushed and fell through. He then turned to the others and gave a look of dismay. We watched as he began to think and suddenly got an idea. He put his hands back through and said something, the other two grabbed his hands reluctantly and he pulled them through. They then walked over to us and saw that we were laughing.

"What's so funny?" Jeremie asked.

"The look on Odd's face when he ran into the barrier for one." Ulrich said.

"Then how you got the idea of how to get them through and the look on their faces..." I added.

"Well, will that thing hold back the shadows?" Odd asked.

"Looks like it did to me..." Ulrich said laughing.

"No, seriously, I was able to pass through it, why shouldn't they?" Jeremie asked.

"That is because of your natural ability." Sissi told him. "Anyway, did you find anything?"

"Yeah, but not much." Jeremie said. "Anyway, most of it was to big to carry and I didn't know how long we would have out there without the shadows attacking us."

I noticed Aelita looking around the square. She seemed interested in something, but I couldn't tell what. Every now and then she would stop and look at something for a few minutes and then move on. I suddenly realized that she was finding things we could use in the barrier.

"Aelita," I said. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh," she started, "just the rubble within this barrier. We could use it to make a shelter, a crude shelter, but one just the same."

"Ok, then we should get to work." Ulrich said taking off part of his cape thing. He laid it on the ground and placed Yumi on it. "Well, shall we?"

We began moving around collecting twisted fragments of the buildings that had once stood around here. Aelita and Jeremie both helped in picking out the pieces that we took and we placed everything in a pile. The rubble that we could find no use for we moved off to the side. Slowly, with Jeremie and Aelita's guidance we built a small structure made of metal beams and concrete walls. Sissi and I had to move the large pieces with telekinesis and we had to place on the roof but we finished building it.

The new shelter was six feet by ten feet and nearly took up the entire barrier space. It was solid all the way through, Sissi and I made sure of that. There was enough room for each of us to lye down in it comfortably and the opening was just large enough for each of us to pass through. And though it wasn't like home it was still home enough for now, at the very least until we were able to undo what X.A.N.A. had done.

"Great," Ulrich said looking at the small shelter, "Now that that is done we still have at least two things to worry about, food and water."

"Oh, I saw a store that had some food still in it and it hadn't fully been destroyed. I think the food should still be good." Odd said. "I can show you where it is if you want."

"Sounds good," Ulrich said. "Sissi and Sam will come with us."

"Ok." I said.

"Sure." Sissi agreed.

"So what should Aelita and I do?" Jeremie asked.

"You two watch Yumi." Ulrich said. "I am trusting you with her life... Oh, and Jeremie we will need you to get us through the barrier."

Jeremie followed us to the barrier and as we grabbed onto him we were able to pass through it. On the other side we let go of Jeremie and he entered the barrier again. We followed Odd as he led us to the location where he had found the food. When we got there we saw what must have been a small grocery store. Even though it had been leveled it still had food lying around. We quickly grabbed as much as we could, and picked up some other materials which we though might come in handy. Fortunately for us the grocery store must have also been a convenience store; we found medicine, soap, and other things that we might need while we survived in this shadow world.

We had to make sure that we didn't stay out in the open for too long. The shadows were all around us, just waiting to attack. It wouldn't be too long until they decided to get on with it and try to kill us.

I walked quickly, carrying the things that I had been given to carry, looking in every direction. I knew I was being paranoid, but I couldn't help but think that I was being watched. Every second that we stayed out in the open dark city beyond the barrier we had the chance of being attacked. And though I didn't know why that made me so nervous it did and I had to deal with it.

"Well," Odd said breaking the silence, "At least he can't bring the enemies from Lyoko here."

"You shouldn't say that..." Sissi told him.

"Why not, it's not like we are suddenly going to be att-" he stopped as a red laser flew inches from his head.

"You idiot! Don't you watch movies? When ever someone says that it always happens!" Sissi yelled.

"How the hell was I supposed to know that X.A.N.A. could materialize real Lyoko monsters?" Odd yelled back.

"Uh, guys, not to break up this touching moment, but incase you haven't noticed, we are surrounded by Roachsters." Ulrich warned.

I looked all around me and in the very dim light I was able to see the feint outlines of the monsters they called Roachsters. They were standing around us simply looking at us at first, but then they suddenly decided to attack and began charging up their lasers. I saw the red glow emanating from just in front of them and then a flash of red light as the laser shot at me and the others. Thinking quickly I placed up a temporary barrier and blocked the lasers, but I was unable to move and keep it up at the same time.

"I got them!" Odd said running out of the barrier and shooting at the little monsters.

"Odd! This isn't Lyoko, it isn't a game! YOU COULD DIE!" Ulrich yelled out at him as he ran directly into the monsters. "Damn it, I'll be back. Don't move!"

Ulrich ran out after Odd dropping the things he was carrying and materializing his sword. He triplicated and ran at the monsters slicing through them and leaving a mess behind. Between Odd and Ulrich the monsters fell rapidly. We were soon free of the Roachsters, but we now knew of a new threat. We had to get to the others quickly and warn them.

We gathered up the things that we had gotten and began running towards the base. We had to get there and warn them that Xanadu had resurrected X.A.N.A.'s monsters. If he had been able to create Roachsters already then there was no telling what else he would be able to create.

I could see the light from the barrier now. We called out to Jeremie and I saw a figure in the barrier jump up and walk to meet us. When we got there I saw a concerned look on Jeremie's face. But the look was not just for us, I could tell that something else was wrong. He quickly got us through the barrier and into the makeshift base. As we got in he led us over to where Aelita was sitting. I saw a cell phone that had been ripped apart and put back together.

"We have bad news..." Jeremie said.

"So do we," Ulrich replied.

"I'll go first. Aelita and I wanted to see what was happening around us, news by radio waves and so forth. We took my cell phone and modified it with some materials which I found lying around. Then once we had made a makeshift radio I turned it on and listened. The first thing that it was 'tuned' to sounded like static, until I realized that I could hear voices as well, military voices. Ulrich, the world is sending the military into France."

"Oh, god..." Sissi said. "If they come into the area that Xanadu has taken over there is no telling what might happen, other than there will be a lot of death..."

"Our news is just as bad." Ulrich said. "Xanadu has managed to materialize Roachsters. We were attacked, no one was injured but still. Think of what Xanadu could do..."

"He could materialize anything!" Aelita said with a gasp. "Do you think he is trying to turn this world into Lyoko?"

"That is pretty far fetched... but not impossible. X.A.N.A. did always want full control of both worlds..." Jeremie said. "But if those military units come into this area they will be attacked by the monsters. All hell will break loose, and if they loose to badly... they might even decide to use a nuclear missile..."

"Now look who is being farfetched." Ulrich said. "They won't send a nuke at us. We will have defeated Xanadu long before then."

"Not with enemies like that in the living..." Odd said pointing behind us.

I turned around and saw to my horror that Xanadu had already managed to materialize a megatank. If he had already created Lyoko's most difficult monster then there was no telling what else he could do. All we could do now was hope that it wouldn't be able to get through the barrier. If it couldn't then we would be safe, otherwise... I didn't want to think about that alternative.

Suddenly I felt something cold land on my hand. I looked down and saw that it was water. I looked up and saw that it was beginning to rain. I heard the rain falling lightly around me as it began to get harder and harder. The smell of wet concrete and ashes drifted towards us on the wind... We all scrambled into the shelter to get out of the rain making sure to bring our supplies with us.

* * *

The children are now situated enough to look for unnesisities, but they still have the problem of the megatank that is sitting outside their base. They dicide to take care of it and are able to do so easily... until they discover a swarm of hornets ready to attack them. New discoveries will be made... blood will be spilled... and a bath will be made in the next chapter "Bath". 


	47. Bath

Well. New chapter... Yeah... Um, I guess I don't have much to say yet again. Though I would like to tell you all... there is still a long way to go for the children of Lyoko. The end shall not come so quickly.

* * *

Odd: 

I woke up. Looking around I realized that we had all fallen asleep. It was a dangerous thing to do with a megatank right out side our door. Carefully I moved to see if it was still there. I found it still in the same place, 'looking' in at us. It hadn't moved at all, which was bad for us...

I looked around and saw that the rain had washed away some of the rubble. The area just outside the shelter was almost clean of the dust and dirt that had been there before. I could see the concrete that was on the ground and realized that we were still on the road. Just a little way from the center I saw that a building had been standing there. We were probably in the commercial district of the city.

I moved back inside and saw that the others were beginning to wake up, all of them but Yumi, who was still in a deep sleep. I watched as they wiped the sleep out of their eyes. Slowly they stretched and began moving around. It had been our first night out and none of us were used to sleeping on rubble. We had tried to make beds but we hadn't managed very well.

Once they were all up we got out the food that we had picked up. There wasn't that much, and what of it there was wouldn't last very long without refrigeration. We picked out some bread and a few small slices of meet to eat for breakfast. Sissi and Sam sat down and began focusing on making a fire. The rest of us looked a little more carefully at what we had picked up last night. There were some bandages, along with some various medicines, a few toothbrushes and toothpaste, some batteries, a flashlight or two and some other things...

I stopped counting when I heard a small explosion and saw a flash of light. The girls had managed to make the fire. We all huddled around it for warmth and suddenly I realized that it was much colder than it had been the night before. I could see the breath from the others and my own as we breathed out. I could also see the steam from the fire and cooking food as it rose up into the air. This wasn't good. Xanadu was really going all out to get rid of us. Not only was he creating monsters of every type but he was also changing the weather. If this was what he could do now... I didn't dare imagine what he would be able to do as time went on.

"Food's ready." I said as I finished cooking it.

"Thanks Odd." Ulrich said.

The others came over and grabbed their share of the food. I watched as everyone sat down and began eating, but I suddenly realized that Jeremie and Aelita were still standing by the barrier looking out.

"Hey, you two, foods gonna get cold." I called over to them.

They walked over and grabbed the two remaining pieces, I hadn't cooked for Yumi since she was still out cold, and sat down eating.

"So, what were you two doing?" Ulrich asked.

"We were trying to triangulate the location of the pulsations." Jeremie said. "They have weakened quite a bit and I think the source might have moved..."

"Is that possible?" Sam gasped.

"Apparently," Jeremie said. "In any case the dark clouds are still hanging over head so either Xanadu has managed to spread his 'influence' or he is still close enough to have an effect on our area."

"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Sissi asked.

"About one earth mile from our current location." Aelita said. "And he isn't moving any further, as far as we can tell..."

"You were able to figure that out within the last few minutes?" Ulrich asked stunned.

"Well, we had help..." Jeremie said holding up the disfigured cell phone. "The armed forces have begun reporting fighting against an unknown force. They are calling them monsters, and I believe that they are talking about the Lyoko monsters..."

"Wouldn't the shadow demons be more effective?" I asked.

"Probably... But imagine what five or six of those things could do to a normal tank..." Jeremie said pointing at the megatank. "I don't know enough about the shadows to make any good assumptions, so on that matter I am stumped."

"So what are we going to do now?" Sam asked. "If Xanadu is that far away it would take us days to get to him, with the monsters attacking us and everything."

"True, and I am sure that Xanadu is still after us, we are really the only things that can stop him after all." Sissi said. "I say that we stay here and wait for him to return."

"For now I am going to agree with Sissi, we will stay and prepare ourselves better for what ever Xanadu can throw at us." Ulrich said. "But first, now that we are all done eating... we need to get rid of our unwelcome guest."

We slowly began standing up and readied ourselves for battle. We slowly walked around the barrier to the back and Jeremie got us out. We crept our way around and under the dark of the blacked out sky we snuck up on the megatank. I readied myself for a few shots at it as I snuck up behind it. I knew that the others were doing the same from what ever direction they were coming from. As I came up behind it I saw a brief flash of Ulrich moving a short distance from its front. The megatank apparently saw him as well because it opened up and began preparing an attack. I immediately shot three arrows into its casing and got a direct hit behind its X.A.N.A. mark. I saw some oddly colored blood drip from its wounds and it quickly closed up. It began to spin around and turn at me, it opened up and Ulrich appeared slicing it down the center. A cut appeared along where Ulrich had sliced and it fell apart leaving the two sides and a mess...

"Well, that was easy..." I said.

"A little too easy." Ulrich replied. "Where are the others?"

"Over here." I heard Jeremie whisper. "Come take a look."

We climbed over a small hill of rubble and took a look at what he was looking at. From a distance we were able to see small explosions and the sound of machinegun fire reached our ears. I suddenly realized what we were looking at; the war between Xanadu's monsters and humanity had begun.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Duck!" Jeremie yelped as a laser came flying at him.

We all looked up and saw that a swarm of hornets was flying overhead. They had spotted us and were shooting their weapons at us. Lasers began flying everywhere as their aim got better. We quickly scrambled back to the barrier and Ulrich got an idea. "Jeremie get into the barrier and pull in who ever gets shot at. Sissi join him just in case someone gets hit. The rest of us will take the offensive out here."

We readied ourselves and I took aim. Quickly I began shooting a spread of arrows at the hornets. Some of the arrows missed but others hit and where they hit I saw blood begin dripping out. The hornets that I hit began to act different and as they slowed they fell one by one. I began aiming at the parts that I had hit before: head, wings, lower body, and mid-upper body.

As I shot my arrows at the hornets I saw Ulrich slide by them and come from behind. He slashed two in half and the bodies dropped to the ground. Sam was practicing magic as she began lifting the shell of the dead megatank and slapped it onto one of the hornets trapping it inside. We could hear it panic and begin shooting around wildly, but it didn't penetrate the shell... suddenly this gave me an idea. If the shells of the megatanks were hard enough to withstand an enemy assault of lasers, we could use the shells as armor.

"Sam," I yelled. "When you are done with it, keep the shell..."

"Why?" she yelled back, but then it dawned on her as she blocked an attack. "Oh, got it."

There were only a few hornets left including the one still in the shell. Sam opened the shell just enough for Ulrich to get his sword through it. When that one was dead she caught two that were flying next to each other. We heard a squish and when she opened it the two were dead. There was one left and I got it with an arrow just as Ulrich sliced it in half.

"Well that was a bloody mess." He said as he walked back drenched in blood. "How am I going to get clean?"

"I found a water pipe." Jeremie said. "And it just happens to be running through the barrier. If we were able to prop it up we could create a kind of shower or bath... These could help." He said looking at the two halves of the megatank shell. "But we would have to clean it out first."

I looked in and wished I hadn't. The remains of various hornets and the megatank were still in it. I stepped back and felt like I was going to throw up. Sissi walked over and took a look, she turned a light shade of green and turned to Sam. "Well, we could burn through it..." she said.

"True..." Sam agreed.

"Wait, before you do I want to get out the electronic components. Aelita and I might be able to use them..." Jeremie said.

"Feel free." Ulrich nodded. "Tell them when you are done... the sooner we can get rid of the smell the better."

It didn't take Jeremie long. There wasn't much electronic about the megatank, though there wasn't much left at all... when he was done he took Sam and Sissi a little ways out of the barrier and they finished off what was left of its organics. I saw the flames from here and sighed with relief. It would be bad enough to have a part of X.A.N.A. in here with us, but if it still had... well, never mind.

They dragged the remains back in and Jeremie pulled the pipe out of the ground. With help he manipulated it enough so that the water would run into the bowl that half of the megatank shell made. Once that was done he opened the pipe, which had luckily been broken at a valve... but no water came out.

"Oh, wait, I can help." Aelita said. "Remember my ability is manipulation of our surroundings..." she focused on the pipe for a moment and water began coming out.

"Aelita, you're a genius." Jeremie said. "How did you do it?"

"I simply moved the source a little higher than the pipe." She said. "Besides, the source is the river, which is naturally running anyway..."

Ulrich walked over and saw that the water was filling the bowl. He congratulated the two and put his arm in it. He instantly pulled it out and shivered. Sam walked over and created a small fire under the bowl and the water began to heat up. A little wile later we had a working bath, with a curtain up over it... When Ulrich was done we each took our turn in the hot bath, dumping the water out into the edge of the barrier.

"Well, what now captain?" I asked.

"Well, we don't have much left to do but wait... We can't do anything against Xanadu until Yumi wakes up. And I can't think of anything else we need right now..." Ulrich said and began to think. "Unless Einstein here can think of something..."

"What, me?" Jeremie asked. "Well, I could work on a radio system so that we can keep in communication... or I could work on the radio we already have..."

"Well, I'm good with that." Ulrich said. "If anyone else thinks of something I am going to be in the shelter..."

He walked off into the darkness of the shelter and disappeared. We turned to Jeremie for further instructions. It seemed that we would be having a slow day today. I just hoped that it would stay like this and not end up for the worse... but that just might be asking for to much.

* * *

A little more chaos awaits the children as most of the others leave with Jeremie to help him bring back 'stuff'. The only three who remain are Sissi, Ulrich and Yumi. Ulrich confides in an unconscious Yumi about his troubles with leading the group as a cautious Sissi listens in. Sissi tries to comfort Ulrich and helps... a little. More is told about the growing military presence in Paris. Sissi finds a surprise, and the song returns in the next chapter "A Little More off the Top; Sewers". 


	48. A Little More Off the Top Sewers

Ok, not that I am advratizing myself or anything, but I have a new story up. It is a Teen Titans one. If any of you are interested, I know that you are all Code: Lyoko fans but that doesn't mean that you don't like other things... So just wanted to let you know.

* * *

Sissi: 

Most of the others had left to search for supplies. Jeremie was going to work on making us some walky-talky like communicators, but he needed parts. Besides, now that we had a bath we needed soap and so forth. They had gone out to look for what ever they could find. I had stayed back, they didn't need me, and besides I wanted to stay behind... at least just this once.

I walked up to the opening of the shelter and heard Ulrich talking. At first I assumed that Yumi had woken up but then I realized that though it sounded like he was talking to her, and though he probably was, he was really talking to himself. I stopped short and stood where I was listening.

"... I don't know what to do, Yumi. I am leading them the best that I know how, but it just isn't enough. I'm not the leader in the group, you are... I wish you were awake, things would be much easier. I know that if you were awake we would have defeated Xanadu already. If only you hadn't fought against the traveler... he would still be here and you would be awake. We could have ended this; we could have finished this war already. Why did it have to turn out this way? Damn it, if I loose you I don't know what I will do... Jeremie and Aelita have each other, Sam and Odd have each other, and you and I were supposed to be together... Why won't you wake up? How long will you be asleep?"

He began crying softly. I wasn't sure if I should go in and comfort him or if I should just leave them alone... the part of me that had a crush on Ulrich was screaming for me to help him, but the new part of me, the refined self that I had developed was telling me that I should wait. I was torn between the two and I couldn't decide who to listen to, the voice of 'love' or the voice of 'reason'.

A cold wind blew and I felt the temperature drop. I shivered and decided to go in. Mother Nature had given me my answer, and my excuse. I walked in and sat next to Ulrich gently placing my hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly at my presence but relaxed when he realized it was me.

"Ulrich..." I said in a comforting voice, "she will be alright. Yumi is a tough person; the toughest I know. I know that she will pull through, and when she does she will be proud of you and all you have managed to do."

"Thank you Sissi." He said with a weak smile. "You really have changed for the better..."

Ulrich began to slouch over, his eyes closing. He dropped to the ground next to Yumi and fell asleep. I rolled my eyes in exasperation because I now had to watch after two sleeping people. I sat back and got comfortable, the others wouldn't be back for a while and I had nothing to do...

In the distance gone shots and explosions could be heard as the military continued to fight against the monsters of X.A.N.A. The world was calling them monsters but no one could decide from where. Some thought that they were an alien species taking over the world, while others thought they were from hell. But what everyone knew was that they were a hostile threat that had to be exterminated.

The military had lost fighters; they had been... taken over more than really being killed. Each person that Xanadu took control of became part of his army and began fighting against their former comrades. No one could explain this annoying phenomenon nor could they stop it, but as more and more people fell from 'friendly' fire the governmental officials became more and more aggravated.

Even with the losses the countries that had invaded the dark space, or dead space as some called it, had been making progress. They were now a couple of miles within the space that Xanadu had created on earth, though this might have been because the space was still expanding. Even so military bases had been made as was progress...

The children came close to some of the military at one point in Jeremie's search for useful machinery. As they neared the men they found that they were trying desperately to fight against some shadow creatures. The bullets and grenades they used had no effect on the shadows and the military was loosing dramatically. The children did all they could to help the militia, and they were spotted and reported, but as the last man fell the children had no choice but to move on. Of course before they did so they managed to pick up some of the supplies that the militia had been carrying with them. Along with the rest were seven radio headsets which the children could use to communicate with each other and the other people around them.

The children headed back shivering in the cold wind. The temperature had begun to drop and was steadily continuing to. They were beginning to be able to see their breath as they exhaled as well as some frost around the rubble of the city. This was beginning to get dangerous, as they all well knew, and they hurried back to their base and shelter.

The militia had made one other discovery, of similar importance, a young boy about the age of twelve or thirteen was found lying among the rubble. The boy was alive, but when the militia found him they could barely tell. They brought the boy out of the dead space and to a military hospital. There the boy was treated as best they could, though he was found to have multiple fractures and a very large gauche in his stomach. The surgeons were surprised he was still alive at all, and he was more than lucky enough to simply be in a coma...

The others had returned, and they seemed to be triumphant. Jeremie held up two sets of headsets that were attacked to small radios. The others were already wearing theirs when Jeremie handed us ours. Ulrich and I placed them on our heads and turned them on. We turned to the channel that Jeremie instructed us to and we did a test. Everything worked fine and we were able to hear each other. They had also brought back a few of the bodies of the dead Roachsters. Jeremie and Aelita wanted to dissect them and see what they were made of. If there was any electronics that we could use he was going to use it and make us something.

While they were gone and after Ulrich had fallen asleep I had worked on cleaning up the rubble that was still inside the shelter. There had been little of use but what there had been I had placed in a pile for Jeremie and the others to look through. I had also made an interesting discovery... there was a manhole within the barrier that led directly to the sewer, which hadn't been destroyed. I had explored just a little ways but I had found enough to tell me that the entire sewer system had survived the attack on the city. Still, I didn't quite know what this would mean for us...

Jeremie and Aelita took their equipment and went to a spot that Jeremie had designated as his new 'lab'. The others looked around for something to do for a few seconds and then sat down bored. I knew that now was my chance to tell the others about what I had found. I walked over to them and began talking.

"Guys, I might have made an important discovery." I said. "The sewer system under the city hasn't been destroyed."

"Well, what do you know...?" Odd said. "The sewers of France make their comeback..."

"How much is left?" Ulrich asked ignoring Odd's comment.

"I don't know really, I just explored for a few minutes. I didn't want to leave Yumi alone while she is still asleep."

"Good point..." Ulrich said. "Well, where is the manhole?"

"It's directly below the shelter." I said leading them over to it.

The manhole was in one of the crude corners of the shelter. I walked over to it leading the others. They looked down at it dismally as I opened it and dropped myself into a cement walkway. They jumped down after me one by one landing on the walkway. I began leading them as far as I had gone, creating a small light to see with.

I hadn't gone far because, of course, Yumi had been alone, but the distance that I had covered was enough to tell us that the city was nearly untouched down here. It seemed that Xanadu had made an oversight when attacking the city. It made me wonder whether or not anyone had actually survived his attack. If anyone had been down here there was a possibility that they had survived.

We continued along the path until we reached a gate. The gate was closed and locked and no one really felt like trying to get beyond it. We headed back the other way and suddenly found a single light on. If the light bulb was on then there must have still been electricity running through the wires under the city. This was good news because we could use this for powering anything we found.

As we neared the other side I noticed that I was beginning to feel hungry. I heard my stomach growl and then I heard the others. We agreed to head up and get some lunch before continuing on. As we crawled up the ladder into the world above I began to hum a song that I had heard a couple of times before. I didn't think much of it at first, but then as we were making ourselves something to eat I realized that I couldn't get it out of my head. Because of this I decided to simply ignore it and continue preparing my food...

"Here we are..." Ulrich muttered to himself suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"Huh?" he responded as though coming out of a trance.

"What did you just say?" I asked again.

"Here we are?" he replied.

"Going far..." Odd muttered just as suddenly as Ulrich had.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked the song coming to life.

"…To save all that we love." Jeremie said talking to Aelita walking towards us apparently deep in conversation.

"Here we are." Aelita said apparently to us.

"Like... a star..." Odd muttered again and I looked over to what he was doing. He was looking at the sky...

"…Shining bright on our world." Sam replied to Odd.

"Today?" Odd asked completely engrossed in their conversation.

"...Make evil go away!" we all heard Yumi nearly yelling from within the shelter.

Suddenly a bright light appeared in the sky as the dark clouds separated and we could see the stars. The light came down upon the barrier and made it glow brighter with thousands of different symbols along it. I quickly glanced over at Ulrich and saw that he had dashed into the shelter to check on Yumi. As he entered I saw two shadow creatures flee as if for their lives. I looked back at Odd and saw him pointing at a star, Sam looking at where he was pointing. "That one." He said. I looked over at Jeremie and Aelita, they were deeply engrossed in... a book! I hadn't seen the book before and was wondering where they had gotten it when a light mist began looming around me.

The mist tightened up and enclosed me from the others. All I could see was the white fog, and all I could hear was a light moan of wind. When the fog began to clear I found myself in a familiar place...

* * *

Many different things happen. Three children's point of view and a fourth who isn't one of the Lyoko kids. Somehow everyone begins to be seperated. Read a clearer description, and what happens in 'Things'. 


	49. Things

Well, I thank you all for being so loyal. I have some good news and some bad news. First the middle news: though I will continue this story until it has an ending, and I DO know what it is... I will be embarking on a journey to rewrite the story from the beginning. Everything will stay the same, but I will elaborate more on everything. If this is successful the earlier chapters will be as long and detailed as the later ones. It is your choice to, if I manage to do this, read the story through again, but the story line will remain the same. Of course that leads us into the bad news: for a little while now I have had something like writer's block in the chapter directly after this one... I am trying to extend the relationship between Jeremie and Aelita (as requested in a review), and I believe the chapter might have been finished, but I will not post it for a while. After this point there will be little to no more chapters posted until I have fought off the writer's block... (On the other hand another story, for another show, seems to be coming along nicely...) So thank you all for loving this story so much but I have to temporarily stop it for a while.  
Thank you, and I may see you at the beginning again soon.

* * *

Ulrich:

I rushed in to see what was wrong with Yumi. I had heard her scream and knew that this meant that she had to be at least somewhat awake. I barely noticed the shadows escape through the door as I entered but I swore if they had hurt Yumi they would suffer for it...

When I got to Yumi she was still sleeping on the makeshift sleeping bag that we had made. Her eyes were closed but she looked anything but comfortable. She was tossing and turning; thrashing about wildly as though she were trying to fend something off. She was moving about so much that I couldn't get close enough to touch her without getting scratched, but I couldn't just sit back and watch Yumi hurt herself.

Quickly I lunged forward moving through her arms and shielding myself with myself. I reached my arms forward and gently placed them on her forehead and shoulder. She was burning up but it didn't feel like a fever; her skin looked redder as well. I knew that I had to do something to calm her down or she might hurt herself, or worse, kill herself.

Thinking fast I placed both hands against her face, holding her head still. Preying that this would work I readied a spell that I had just thought of. I focused my energy and myself into her mind. If I could make it there I might be able to help her fight what ever was attacking her...

Slowly I felt myself slipping, the light fading. Suddenly my eyes closed and my body dropped, but I was no longer in my body... I could see myself from outside, as though I were another person. Quickly I moved towards Yumi's forehead and entered her 'dream'...

* * *

Jeremie:

I was eating the food that I had prepared, talking to Aelita. We had been working on portable barriers, or shields. With these we could walk freely through the darkness around us without worrying about the shadows. That way when the time came we would not have to worry about the shadows while we fought Xanadu. We had also been working on making a type of armor out of the shells of megatanks. If we were able to melt the metal down we could probably do it easily enough... the problem was melting the metal. The final thing we had been working on was the lasers from the monsters. Most of them obviously had some kind of electronic part in them, if we could figure out what was necessary to make the lasers we could then use the knowledge to actually make the lasers.

So far we had managed to finish the portable barriers and a small version of the lasers. Neither of them had worked perfectly yet but they worked well enough. The main problem was that we needed a field test, but it wasn't like we were going to go looking for trouble... on this note we had begun listening to the military frequency on the radios that we had picked up.

"...Need help... enemy too strong... can't hold them back... by river..." and the signal ended.

What luck, well, not for them but for us. I looked over at Aelita and she nodded. We quickly got up and left the barrier. They had said by the river, and the military was entering from the north so we knew where they had to be. We quickly began running towards where they were ready for anything.

* * *

Odd:

Sam and I were looking up at the sky. We could see the stars because for some reason the clouds had parted. I was pointing out a particular star which seemed to be burning brighter than the others. As we watched a light emanated down through the parted clouds and was absorbed into the barrier. The barrier began to widen in all directions giving us more room within it.

"What do you think this means?" I asked Sam mystified.

"I don't know for sure..." She replied. "But I somehow doubt that that is a star."

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Check it out?" she replied.

"How?"

"Leave that to me." she said as two wings appeared on her back.

I felt an itching sensation and suddenly two wings sprouted on my back as well. I stretched them flexing the new muscles. With a few flaps of the wings Sam and I were able to lift off the ground and begin flying towards the light. As we flew I began to feel more and more comfortable with these new wings and was able to fly, really, without thinking about it.

I still couldn't quite see what it was but the light was getting closer. It was emanating many different colors all around it and I could see a distortion in the space just around it like the thing that steam makes... I felt compelled to reach the light and my hands began acting on their own, reaching for it. I quickly glanced over to Sam and saw the same in her. Suddenly we were at it our hands on the light itself. I could feel the warmth emanating from its smooth surface.

Suddenly I felt the wings disappear and we began falling back to the earth. I looked over at Sam and saw that she appeared to be asleep. Panicked now, but still holding onto the light, I began inching my way over to her as we fell. I reached out my free hand and grabbed one of hers. Pulling her close to me I held on and looked down at the far distant ground...

* * *

Somewhere in a military base:

"Doctor, I'm not sure how he is doing it but his body is almost fully healed. He simply has a few flesh wounds left, but nothing life threatening."

"That's impossible! This boy was nearly dead when the soldiers found him. How could he have healed so quickly?"

I heard the voices as I drifted into consciousness. There was a man and a woman talking next to me, but there were many others all around where I was. The voices sounded American but I could hear other languages as well.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a tent full of people, most of whom were talking, but two were standing over me. The man was wearing a white doctor suit and the woman was wearing a nurse's suit... They noticed that my eyes were opened and looked at me.

"Well, son, I see you are awake." The doctor said.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You are in a military tent in Paris." The doctor said. "The entire city has been taken over by something... we don't know what though."

"What..." I asked still somewhat asleep. "Oh, wait-"

"There are some people who wanted to talk to you if... when you woke up, if you think you are up to it." The nurse said.

I looked around again and my memory began coming back to me. I had been hit, badly, but it shouldn't have gotten me this badly. I shouldn't have been knocked out...

"There is somewhere I need to be..." I said. "If you will excuse me."

"Now I can't let you do that, young man, you were near death in the middle of the city, and one of the only survivors that may be left." The doctor said. "You have to tell us what you know."

"Young man?" I asked shocked looking down at my body.

I was in my youth, once again. It must have been a reaction to being knocked out, and... If I was as badly wounded as they had said. Wait, if Yumi had used that much energy then...

"Crap. Look there really is somewhere I have to be. You should all get out of here, there is something going on that is far beyond your comprehension. If you don't leave now you may all die!"

"He must be delirious." The nurse said.

"I am not!" I said raising my hands and preparing a spell to get myself out of this place... but I was unable to summon my energy. My abilities had gone dormant once again.

The nurse pushed me down and injected me with something... my eyes became heavy and I began to fall asleep. The last thing I saw before going into a dreamless sleep was the children, each one being separated from the others, and two of them falling...

* * *

Unknown: Something about a cliff and the beginning of thepossible destruction of the real universe... But beyond that is within the black void of mystery. 


	50. Author Note

Author Note:

Uh, yeah, I recently realized that it won't inform you all when I update a previous chapter. For this I apologize, not that I can do anything about it... Anyway, I thought you should know that I haven't completely abandoned this story, quite the contrary actually. I am revising the previous chapters and chapter one, Signs of Desire, has been updated. I'm sorry that I can't do better than telling you all this once, and I do intend to finish the story, but for now feel free to periodically check for chapter updates and I will try to make them.

I would also like to note that fanfiction doesn't accept some of the basic symbols that I put in for place holders, like three stars to show transitions, I can't help that, and a line won't do, if it really is to confusing then I will change it, somehow. Anyway, tell me what you think.


	51. Read this important information

I would like to apologies to you who have been awaiting the next chapter of my Code: Lyoko stories. I appreciate your patience, unfortunately it was wasted. I cannot continue these stories, the inspiration is gone. As the second season ended all I could think about was what I would do next, how I could add onto the story as it is... My previous stories will not allow me to do so, and since I have lost all other real inspiration for them I must close them and remove them from this does not mean the stories are gone forever. First off I will be restarting Code: Lyoko Desires, continuing from where the second season left off, as soon as I can remember where that was... Second, those of you who wish to have a copy of the story may, without monetary cost, receive a copy. All you must do is ask, and ye shall receive. Third, even though I've lost inspiration for this story you those of you who enjoy it so much may be able to help me with it. I know where it was going, I just don't know how to get there, and I don't particularly want to spend my time trying to map my way through a dense wood, so to speak. If you can assist me through the wood by giving me ideas, or something like that, then I may be able to continue the story. If you wish to help, just ask.

Anyway, the way I will do this is by e-mailing you a copy of the story, either Desires or Desires Revised, in either full form or in chapter form, as a zip file. All you need to do is ask.

I will also be updating my e-mail from hotmail to gmail, so you will be more likely to reach me during the week, and at some point I hope to be publishing a webpage on the internet, just to let you all know... I hope you enjoy, and continue enjoying my stories, and thank you for reading... Read on, good people, read on.


End file.
